Wed. May 1st, 2024

Very few people know about the Relative Value Unit Update Committee or the RUC. Formed in 1992, it was composed of representatives from all the medical specialties including our little American Academy of Family Physicians. In summary, 29 health professionals set the prices for the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services and in turn, the insurance companies. And guess who got paid the least?

Here is an article by the AAFP in 2008.

Of the 29 members of the RUC, only five currently represent primary care specialties as defined by the AAFP. The vast majority of the representatives to the RUC are appointed by other surgical, procedural or subspecialties. As a result, the work of representing primary care issues to the RUC has often been difficult.

The AAFP, through its RUC representation, is attempting to ensure that the process serves family medicine as well as it possibly can. There is much work to be done.

It has been 33 years since this debacle. How have things gotten better in the system? How much work has been done by the AAFP since that article in 2008?

It’s time for family docs to leave the RUC prison. Direct Primary Care is our only hope. Save the money you would be paying to the AAFP and use it to get your freedom.

177220cookie-checkOriginal Video of the AAFP at the RVU Update Committee Deciding How Much Family Docs Should Get Paid in the System
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By Douglas Farrago, MD

Douglas Farrago MD is board certified in the specialty of Family Practice. He is the inventor of a product called the Knee Saver which is currently in the Baseball Hall of Fame. The Knee Saver and its knock-offs are worn by many major league baseball catchers. He is also the inventor of the CryoHelmet used by athletes for head injuries as well as migraine sufferers. From 2001 – 2011, Dr. Farrago was the editor and creator of the Placebo Journal which ran for 10 full years. Described as the Mad Magazine for doctors, he and the Placebo Journal were featured in the Washington Post, US News and World Report, the AP, and the NY Times. Douglas Farrago, MD received his Bachelor of Science from the University of Virginia in 1987, his Masters of Education degree in the area of Exercise Science from the University of Houston in 1990, and his Medical Degree from the University of Texas at Houston in 1994. His residency training occurred way up north at the Eastern Maine Medical Center in Bangor, Maine. In his final year, he was elected Chief Resident by his peers. Dr. Farrago has practiced family medicine for twenty-three years, first in Auburn, Maine and now in Forest, Virginia. He founded Forest Direct Primary Care in 2014, which quickly filled in 18 months. Dr. Farrago still blogs every day on his website Authenticmedicine.com and lectures worldwide about the present crisis in our healthcare system and the effect it has on the doctor-patient relationship. Dr. Farrago’s has written three books on direct primary care: The Official Guide to Starting Your Own Direct Primary Care Practice, The Direct Primary Care Doctor’s Daily Motivational Journal and Slowing the Churn in Direct Primary Care (While Also Keeping Your Sanity) are all best sellers in this genre. He is a leading expert in direct primary care model and lectures medical students, residents, and doctors on how to start their own DPC practice. He retired from clinical medicine in October, 2020.

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