Posts tagged medicare cuts
President Signs Bill Delaying 21% Medicare Physician Pay Cuts through November 30th
Jul 6th
On June 25, 2010, President Obama approved a bill that temporarily repeals the 21.3% Medicare pay cuts for doctors and replaces it with a 2.2% increase through the end of November. The measure is retroactive to June 1st, the date the 21.3% cuts took effect.
According to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), Medicare claims administration contractors have been instructed to discontinue processing claims at the negative rate and to temporarily hold all claims for service rendered after June 1st until the 2.2% rates are tested and programmed into claims processing systems. Processing of claims at the new rate is expected to begin no later than July 1, 2010.
The newly approved bill is the fourth in a series of legislative actions taken to avert the 2010 pay cuts, but it is only a temporary solution to the problem. The pay cut rate may reach 23% in December of this year and 30% in January of 2011, once the reprieve is up.
President Obama acknowledged that the bill does little to provide a permanent physician payment fix. In a statement on June 24th, he said, “We should also agree, as I’ve said in the past, that kicking these cuts down the road just isn’t an adequate solution to the problem. The current system of recurring cuts and temporary fixes was passed into law more than 10 years ago. It’s untenable.”
Medicare Physician Fee Schedule Cuts Delayed Again
May 2nd
Congress Approves Extension of Delay in Cuts Through May 31, 2010
On Thursday, April 15, 2010, President Obama signed the “Continuing Extension Act of 2010” into law in an effort to avoid a Medicare meltdown for seniors and military families. The law delays the 21% cut to the Medicare Physician Fee Schedule through May 31, 2010.
The new law is retroactive to April 1, 2010, when the previous delay expired. The Centre for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) temporarily held claims for fourteen (14) calendar days from the April expiration date to allow time for the extension to be enacted. CMS contractors will now reprocess any claims that were paid on the lower rate, and claims with a date of service before April 1, 2010 will be processed under normal procedures.
Although delaying Medicare payment cuts provides a temporary fix, it clearly does not provide a permanent solution to the problem. As stated by J. James Rohack, President of the American Medical Association (AMA), “Physicians cannot keep their practice doors open to all Medicare patients without clear direction from Congress on Medicare payment rates. Already, Medicare payment rates are far below the costs of providing patient care, and physicians are left wondering how they can continue to run a medical practice if Congress does not inject security and stability into the Medicare program.”
Nonetheless, the delay is still a blessing for the physicians that are under threat of bankruptcy due to the impending cuts. In the meantime, the AMA has taken the lead and continues to work closely with Congress to develop and implement a long-term solution so that physicians can continue to provide care for Medicare patients.
Medicare Physician Payments To Be Cut 21.3 % Beginning April 1, 2010
Apr 1st
Medicare physician payments to be cut 21.3 % Beginning April 1, 2010
A 21.3% cut in Medicare payments takes effect today. The scheduled cuts were extended to March 31, 2010 and were expected to be extended again for another month until Congress took a two week recess on March 26, 2010.
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) adjusts the physician fee schedule annually. The adjustment is based on a complex formula which includes The Sustainable Growth Rate, a cost control method which allows for tweaking the current year budget based on previous year’s expenditures.
The medical profession has opposed these temporary extensions in favor of a comprehensive fix to the problem with a more sweeping overhaul of the formula.
Although there has been no communication from CMS, previously it has held claims temporarily until an extension was enacted. In the event that CMS decides to take similar actions this time, the hold should not severely affect provider cash flows since claims filed electronically don’t get paid any sooner than 14 calendar days.
While it works on a more permanent solution to the problem, it is anticipated that the Senate will quickly extend the date on which the Medicare cuts go into effect to May 1, 2010 as it returns to session on April 12, 2010.