(a) For the CY 2015 payment adjustment period, the benchmark for each cost measure is the national mean of the performance rates calculated among all groups of physicians for which beneficiaries are attributed to the group of physicians that are subject to the value-based payment modifier. In calculating the national benchmark, groups of physicians' performance rates are weighted by the number of beneficiaries used to calculate the group of physician's performance rate.
(b) Beginning with the CY 2016 payment adjustment period, the cost measures of a group and solo practitioner subject to the value-based payment modifier are adjusted to account for the group's and solo practitioner's specialty mix, by computing the weighted average of the national specialty-specific expected costs. Each national specialty-specific expected cost is weighted by the proportion of each specialty in the group, the number of eligible professionals of each specialty in the group, and the number of beneficiaries attributed to the group.
(c) The national specialty-specific expected costs referenced in paragraph (b) of this section are derived by calculating, for each specialty, the average cost of beneficiaries attributed to groups and solo practitioners that include that specialty. [78 FR 74821, Dec. 10, 2013, as amended at 79 FR 68007, Nov. 13, 2014]