Practice Management Alert

Rejoice along with the AMA now that you have a full year fix.

Although the government appeared poised to take a big bite out of your next Medicare payments, you can breath a sigh of relief for another year. For 2011 you won't need to worry about losing pay. That's because the 23 percent Medicare pay cuts that practices have feared since January were once again kicked to the curb by Congress.

You won't face the same nail-biting payment woes in 2011 as you did this year, thanks to a Senate Finance Committee bill that will freeze Medicare pay at current levels for another 12 months.

The House of Representatives passed the Medicare and Medicaid Extenders Act of 2010 on Dec. 9 and the Senate voted on it the day before, moving it to President Obama's desk for signature as Medical Office Billing & Collections Alert went to press. The bill will eliminate the 25 percent cut that medical practices were going to face effective January 1.

Physicians cheered the news that they won't have to wait for the new Congress and Senate members to take their seats before determining whether a payment fix would take place. "The AMA welcomes bipartisan House passage of legislation to stop the Medicare physician payment cut for one year," said AMA president Cecil B. Wilson, MD, in a statement on Dec. 9. "Stopping the steep 25 percent Medicare cut for one year was vital to preserve seniors' access to physician care in 2011.

Many physicians made clear that this year's roller coaster ride, caused by five delays of this year's cut, forced them to make difficult practice changes like limiting the number of Medicare patients they could treat."

History: Senate Finance Committee chair Max Baucus (DMont.) and ranking member Charles Grassley (R-Iowa) had vowed to pursue a full-year fix to the Medicare payment formula that they could enact before the 25 percent cuts kick in on Jan. 1, according to a Nov. 29 statement on the Senate Finance Committee's Web site.

The bill was passed as a bipartisan effort, and the Senate Finance Committee noted that it will cost $14.9 billion over 10 years to implement the physician pay fix. It will be funded by making minor adjustments to the Affordable Care Act, the health care legislation that President Obama signed into law last March.

The bill also extends the exceptions process for Medicare therapy caps and extends payment for the technical component of specific pathology services through Dec. 31, 2011, as well as including other provisions.

The full text of the legislation can be found on the Senate Finance Committee's Web page at http://finance.senate.gov/legislation/.