1. Vascular surgery and the Resource-based Relative Value Scale five-year review 
Robert M. Zwolak, MD, PhD, Hugh H. Trout, MD 
Journal of Vascular Surgery 
Volume 25, Issue 6, Pages (June 1997)
DOI: /S (97)
Copyright © 1997 Society for Vascular Surgery and International Society for Cardiovascular Surgery, North American Chapter Terms and Conditions

2. Fig. 1
Intraservice work per unit time (IWPUT) for 9 vascular and 11 nonvascular surgical procedures in 10 survey hospitals, using accurate skin-to-skin OR times. Procedures are arranged from greatest to least IWPUT. Values in parentheses represent number of operations tabulated. Intraservice work is from Harvard/Hsiao/RUC multispecialty points of comparison (MPC) data where available, or derived as 60% of 1995 Medicare Fee Schedule work where not available from MPC (total hip arthroplasty, total knee arthroplasty). Skin-to-skin surgical times were obtained from operative logs, and frequency-weighted median times were used to calculate IWPUT.
Journal of Vascular Surgery  , DOI: ( /S (97) )
Copyright © 1997 Society for Vascular Surgery and International Society for Cardiovascular Surgery, North American Chapter Terms and Conditions

3. Fig. 2
Example of IWPUT work calculation used by GRC of SVS/ISCVS for justification of work RVUs for CPT 35081, repair of abdominal aortic aneurysm with tube graft.
Journal of Vascular Surgery  , DOI: ( /S (97) )
Copyright © 1997 Society for Vascular Surgery and International Society for Cardiovascular Surgery, North American Chapter Terms and Conditions

4. Fig. 3
Overall annual fiscal impact of 5-year reevaluation on Medicare payments to medical specialties. Expressed in percent change. Estimates derived from HCFA Notice of Proposed Rule Making.7
Journal of Vascular Surgery  , DOI: ( /S (97) )
Copyright © 1997 Society for Vascular Surgery and International Society for Cardiovascular Surgery, North American Chapter Terms and Conditions

5. Fig. 4
Prior and new payment formulas for calculation of total work. GPCI, geographic practice cost index payment formula incorporates a new budget neutrality adjuster. Adoption of this new payment formula precludes the necessity of recalculated work RVU for every CPT code. Because budget neutrality adjustment across work RVUs is 8.3%, the work adjuster value for the 1997 Fee schedule is
Journal of Vascular Surgery  , DOI: ( /S (97) )
Copyright © 1997 Society for Vascular Surgery and International Society for Cardiovascular Surgery, North American Chapter Terms and Conditions