A lawsuit filed in December by the American College of Cardiology against the Department of Health and Human Services for cutting Medicare reimbursements for cardiology services has been dismissed by the U.S. District Court of Southern Florida. The court said in its ruling that it did not have authority to review Medicare payments.
The ACC had asked the court to block the cuts and to prevent Medicare from using flawed data to make its decisions, arguing that the Physician Practice Information Survey methodology used to calculate payment rates does not provide an accurate picture of physician costs.
The ruling has implications for physicians of all specialties who, according the current 2010 CMS physician fee schedule, face a 21.2 percent pay cut, effective March 1. It has been fairly common for specialty societies and trade associations to attempt to challenge CMS's actions on fees in court, and this decision may discourage and make more difficult these types of challenges.
www.hospitalreviewmagazine.com/news-and-analysis/legal-and-regulatory/accs-lawsuit-against-medicares-physician-fee-cuts-dropped.html
In other news today, all eyes are on Massachusetts' special election to fill the late Sen. Edward Kennedy's seat. The election marks a critical point in healthcare reform efforts as Democratic Massachusetts' Attorney General Martha Coakley struggles to stave off defeat from Republican state Sen. Scott Brown. If state Sen. Brown is elected, Republicans in the Senate would have a total of 41 votes, which would allow them to further challenge the Democratic majority's healthcare reform legislation.
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