In other MMA mandates, Medicare now will pay for a “Welcome to Medicare” physical and for cardiovascular and diabetes screening tests. In addition to payment for the physical, physicians can bill and be paid separately for a screening electrocardiogram, and may also bill for a more extensive office visit at the same time as the physical, as long as the services are medically necessary.
The fee schedule also increases payments for vaccinations and other types of injections. For instance, payments for administering the flu vaccine will increase from $8 to $18.
These changes boost aggregate spending under the fee schedule from $53.1 billion in 2004 to $55.3 billion in 2005.