A Look at an AMA Committee's Clout in Setting Medicare Prices

In a two-part series, as health reform brings a focus on the budget for Medicare, we look from two sides at a little known but influential group convened by the American Medical Association. It's called the Relative Value Scale Update Committee and some critics say it has too much control over the flow of taxpayer dollars in the Medicare program. Tom Scully, senior counsel in Alston & Bird, LLP, in Washington, DC, and former head of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, tells host Bruce Japsen about problems with the AMA's role in the so-called RUC. In an upcoming program, Bruce Japsen talks with Dr. Barbara Levy, chair of the Relative Value Scale Update Committee.