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• Medicare Fee-for-Service Beneficiary Access to Physician Services

The Government Accountability Office found from April 2000 to April 2002, both nationally and in states' urban and rural areas, the following:

• The percentage of Medicare fee-for-service beneficiaries that received physician services in April each year increased.
• The number of physician services received by Medicare fee-for-service beneficiaries increased.
• On average, each Medicare fee-for-service beneficiary who saw a physician received an increasing number of services.
• On average, the number of office visits for Medicare fee-for-service beneficiaries (both new and established patients) increased.
• Participating physicians provided an increasing proportion of services.
• Overall, the proportion of services for which claims were submitted on assignment (meaning by a Medicare-participating provider) increased. Consequently, beneficiaries were less likely to be exposed to balance billing.

CMS commented on this GAO report, stating it was "pleased with the findings of the report concluding beneficiary access and physician participation both increased from 2000 to 2002" and that "overall, we are particularly pleased with the finding that rural beneficiaries' utilization increased during the period."