Austin Frakt writes:
It’s (past) time to dismantle the RUC: If you’re an evidence-based thinker or an advocate of transparency you’ll practically be moved to tears by Brian Klepper’s account of the latest chapter in the life of a relatively obscure committee. It and our near-slavish deference to it explain much of what is wrong with the U.S. health system…. Too few know how much power the Relative Value Scale Update Committee (RUC) has and what it’s done with it. Though I’ve known about it for ages, I am guilty of rarely posting about it. Brian Klepper has been beating the drum for years. Give him and this issue a little time. His latest is on the Health Affairs blog and he blogs regularly at Care and Cost.
I would also recommend Marciarille and DeLong (2011): the ACA has already launched a missile aimed at the RUC, and it is called the IPAB--the Independent Payment Advisory Board.
