Update: Scheduled 21 percent Medicare Physician Payment Cut to be Implemented
Chicago —
(February 26, 2010)
As a result of U.S. House and Senate negotiators failing to reach
consensus, the pending 21 percent Medicare physician payment cut will
be implemented on March 1st. The implementation is expected to be
temporary.
Over the last few
days, Senate negotiators attempted to advance a 30-day “patch” as part
of legislation to extend a series of expiring tax provisions. This
“extenders” package was blocked from consideration by Senator Jim
Bunning (R-KY). Senator Bunning objected to the package for budgetary
reasons.
The House of
Representatives successfully passed a 30-day “patch” as part of its
“extenders” package, H.R. 4691, the Temporary Extension Act of 2010,
the evening of February 25th.
Discussions regarding
advancing legislation to avoid the 21 percent payment cut are expected
to continue over the weekend and into early next week. Senate Majority
Leader Harry Reid has crafted an “extenders” package that includes a
7-month physician payment “patch.” It is expected he will attempt to
advance the proposal Tuesday, March 2nd.
The American
Medical Association has informed medical specialty organizations that
the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) intends to notify
their contractors to hold Medicare physician claims for 10 additional
business days, effective Monday, March 1st.
ASA continues to push for a full repeal of the
current SGR formula and the implementation of a new Medicare physician
payment update mechanism that accurately reflects the increasing annual
costs of providing services to Medicare beneficiaries.
THE AMERICAN SOCIETY OF ANESTHESIOLOGISTS
Anesthesiologists: Physicians providing the lifeline of modern medicine. Founded in 1905, the American Society of Anesthesiologists is an educational, research and scientific association with 46,000 members organized to raise and maintain the standards of the medical practice of anesthesiology and improve the care of the patient.
For more information on the field of anesthesiology, visit the American Society of Anesthesiologists Web site at www.asahq.org. For patient information, visit LifeLineToModernMedicine.com
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