Urology Coding Alert

At nearly the last minute, Congress votes to boost conversion factor.Although the government appeared poised to take a big bite out of your Medicare payments, you have another two months before you need to worry about losing pay. That's because the 27 percent Medicare pay cuts that practices have feared since last fall were once again kicked to the curb by Congress, resulting in a new, but most likely, temporary Medicare Physician Fee Schedule conversion factor of $34.0376 through Feb. 29 of this year.On Dec. 23, the House followed the Senate's lead in voting to halt the Medicare pay cut for two months, which will basically freeze Medicare pay close to the rates of 2011 through the end of February. Don't Think Your Reimbursement Is Completely SavedAlthough Medicare pay is now set to drop on March 1, the AMA is hopeful that Congress will find a longer-term solution before then. [...]