President signs a six-month reprieve from cuts in Medicare physician reimbursements

 

While both political parties agree that short-term "fixes" for Medicare payments to doctors is flawed, no agreement has been reached on a permanent solution.  The American College of Physicians warned that Congress is "playing with fire" with short-term fixes and delayed payments.  The debate over Medicare reimbursements occurs yearly; generally, Congress passes a bill to push back the cuts for a short period.  This year however, Congress failed to act by June 1 and Medicare repayments were cut by 21%.  While awaiting a new solution, Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) stopped processing Medicare claims with the reduction in effect, hoping that Congress would provide a reprieve. CMS said that it would process those claims retroactively with the new payment increase when the bill becomes law.

 

While extending the payment relief for doctors, the Senate failed to finalize a bill, which includes a continuation of state Medicaid (FMAP) funding and other Medicare program adjustments.  The extension of state Medicaid funding remains a hot-button issue as states finalize their annual budgets.

 

Click here to read a MedPage article regarding the Medicare Payment Adjustment Bill.