The opinion
If this opinion indicates that it is “FOR PUBLICATION,” it is subject to
revision until final publication in the Michigan Appeals Reports.
STATE OF MICHIGAN
COURT OF APPEALS
PRECISION SURGICAL ASSOCIATES, PC, UNPUBLISHED
INSIGHT ANESTHESIA, PLLC, ALLIANCE April 27, 2026
ANESTHESIA, PLLC, INTEGRATED HOSPITAL 10:18 AM
SPECIALISTS, PC, and TIA R. SCOTT,
Plaintiffs-Appellees,
V No. 369750
Oakland Circuit Court
AUTO CLUB INSURANCE ASSOCIATION, LC No. 2022-197116-NF
Defendant-Appellant.
Before: LETICA, P.J., and RICK and BAZZI, JJ.
RICK, J. (concurring).
I concur in the result because it is required under Favot v Brown, ___ Mich App ___; ___
NW3d ___ (2025) (Docket Nos. 368733; 368734), which remains binding precedent. 1 See
MCR 7.215(J)(1). I write separately because I continue to believe that Favot was wrongly decided.
As framed by the majority, the dispositive question is whether the phrase “amount payable
under Medicare” in MCL 500.3157 encompasses all Medicare payment methodologies or instead
refers more narrowly to the fee schedule rates that establish the baseline value of a service. The
Favot Court adopted the broader interpretation, requiring incorporation of all rate-related Medicare
adjustments. Favot, ___ Mich App at ___; slip op at 7-8. In my view, that reading extends beyond
the statutory text.
The statute’s structure reflects a distinction between “rates in the fee schedule” and other
limitations affecting reimbursement. MCL 500.3157(15)(f). Although the “amount payable” is
derived from Medicare, the calculation begins with, and remains tethered to, the fee schedule rate
itself. Only after that baseline is established are any adjustments applied. See Favot, ___ Mich
App at ___; slip op at 7-8. Interpreting the statute to incorporate all downstream payment-
1
Leave to appeal in Favot is currently pending in our Supreme Court.
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reduction methodologies collapses this distinction and risks rendering the Legislature’s limiting
language superfluous. A more faithful reading confines “rate-related” limitations to those that
bear on the determination of the fee schedule rate itself, while excluding methodologies that merely
reduce reimbursement after that rate has been set. This construction preserves the statutory
distinction between rate-setting and post-rate adjustments and gives effect to the text’s exclusion
of limitations “unrelated to the rates in the fee schedule.” MCL 500.3157(15)(f).
Nonetheless, because Favot presently governs, I concur in the result.
/s/ Michelle M. Rick
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