The RBRVS was created to be used as a standard for assessing the value that should be

paid to the health care providers. A formula is used under the said scale to calculate the payment

to be made to the health care provider, based on the resources that were consumed, and on the

work that was done to provide the needed healthcare. The RBRVS is calculated by factoring in

three major components, namely, physician work, practice expense, and professional insurance.

Since it is expected that different geographical locations equate to differences in the cost of

maintaining professional physician capabilities, each of the major components of the RBRVS is

multiplied to a geographical adjustment factor, also known as, GAF. At such, these differences

can be offset under the RBRVS. With several factors considered, and with adjustments such as

GAF, this means that the payment a physician will receive varies depending on the healthcare

service that was provided. Moreover, this also results to medical practitioners of different

specialization to be compensated differently per patient treated due to the different care

requirements of different illnesses. Lastly, a general decline in physician revenue may be

expected as a results of reductions and the eliminations of certain fees. The medical coders are

responsible for translating the patient documentation into codes that inform the payers about the

diagnosis, necessary treatments, supplies consumed, and all the other unexpected circumstance

that could affect the forementioned items. Thus, it is possible for the medical coders to impact

the physician’s revenue. Depending on how the medical coders asses the patient documentation,

a physician may be underpaid or overpaid if proper attention to detail is not practiced. Thus, it is

also important for the medical coder to have certain qualities, on top of their professional

training, such as integrity, and strong attention to detail.