What it represents Copy link
Liability premiums vary by specialty, and so does the risk a service carries. CMS gives each service a share of those insurance costs based on the premiums of the specialties that perform it, and expresses that share on the same RVU scale as work and practice expense.
Its role in the formula Copy link
The malpractice RVU is multiplied by the malpractice GPCI and added to the work and practice-expense terms, and the sum is multiplied by the conversion factor. For most codes it is a small share of the total.
Try the formula Copy link
Enter a code's RVUs (from any code page on this site), your locality's GPCIs (1.000 for the national amount), and the conversion factor. For example, RVUs of 1.30 work + 1.05 practice expense + 0.10 malpractice at national GPCIs total 2.45 adjusted RVUs—at a $32.00 conversion factor that is 2.45 × $32.00 = $78.40.
Fill in the RVUs and conversion factor to see the computed amount. The conversion factor is prefilled with the current standard (non-QP) figure, $33.4009. Sequestration is not applied here.
Frequently asked Copy link
Why is the malpractice RVU usually so small?
For most services, liability premiums are small next to physician work and practice overhead, so the malpractice component is small too.
Sources Copy link
Written from primary CMS sources—see how we source, compute, and verify everything on this site.
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