Glossary · Updated Jul 4, 2026
Malpractice (MP) RVU
The malpractice RVU reflects the relative cost of professional liability insurance for a given service. It is the smallest of the three RVU components but is still part of every payable Physician Fee Schedule calculation.
What it represents
Different services carry different malpractice risk, and premiums vary by specialty and procedure. The malpractice RVU spreads those insurance costs across services in proportion to their relative risk, on the same RVU scale as work and practice expense.
Its role in the formula
In the payment calculation, the malpractice RVU is multiplied by the malpractice GPCI and added to the work and practice-expense terms before the sum is multiplied by the conversion factor. It is usually a small share of the total but is never omitted for payable codes.
Frequently asked
Why is the malpractice RVU usually so small?
Liability premiums are a small fraction of the total cost of most services relative to physician work and practice overhead, so the malpractice component is correspondingly small.
Related
Sources
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