Ophthalmology and Optometry Coding Alert

Expect level pay through March 31, 2015.

You’re probably used to this by now since it has happened each of the past 11 years, but a last-minute law has saved your ophthalmology practice from a potentially devastating reimbursement loss for services you provide to Medicare beneficiaries. 

That’s because the Protecting Access to Medicare Act of 2014, signed into law on April 1, halted the 24 percent pay cut for Medicare Physician Fee Schedule services that was to go into effect on that day.

Instead, the law replaces the reimbursement cut with a 0.5 percent payment update through the end of 2014 and a zero percent payment update from January 1, 2015 to March 31, 2015.

Don’t Expect a Permanent SGR Fix This Time

Stakeholders had been looking for a permanent fix to the Medicare sustainable growth rate (SGR) formula that leads to these looming pay cuts every year, but it was not to be.

Many industry groups are lamenting the lack of a long-term solution.