On Friday, Medicare intermediaries began processing June claims using the 21.3 percent cut. It had been 2½ weeks since CMS stopped processing claims to allow Congress time to deliberate. The delay in payments threatened to create greater financial hardships for practices than being paid the lower amount, with the expectation that the remainder would be paid once a fee fix is passed.
Here is where Congress stands. The Senate, unable to pass a package of federal payment extensions that the House passed, pulled out the fee fix and passed it separately Friday. But House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), angered that the Senate did not pass the rest of the package, has so far refused to bring the self-standing fee-fix bill to a vote.
The House Democratic leadership, however, appears to be split on the issue, according to CQ HealthBeat. House Majority Leader Steny H. Hoyer (D-Md.) hinted he would prefer to go ahead and pass the Senate’s six-month fee fix separately from the rest of the so-called extenders package, which also include enhanced payments for the unemployed and for state Medicaid programs.
Meanwhile, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nov.) is still trying to pass the rest of the extenders bill. He and Senate Finance Chairman Max Baucus (D-Mont.) have been willing to cut the cost of package further to win over Sens. Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins (both R-Maine). However, cuts in the Senate package last week failed to win over any Republicans, who object to raising the federal deficit.
The AMA is opposed to Congress’ newest short-term fee fix, which would expire on Dec. 1, and is calling for a permanent fee fix instead. In his blog, Cecil B. Wilson, MD, the new AMA president, criticized Congress for sacrificing Medicare beneficiaries to its growing fiscal conservatism. “Being fiscally responsible is about more that just not spending money,” he wrote. “It is about spending wisely. I would submit that not resolving a problem now that will inevitably be much more expensive to fix in the future is neither wise nor fiscally sound.”
The AMA said a permanent fee fix would cost $250 billion, but in another five years it could cost more than $500 billion.
Read the Kaiser Health News report on the physician fee fix.
Read previous Becker’s coverage on the fee fix.
Senate Won’t Meet Tuesday Deadline for Fee-Fix
Senate Fails to Pass Fee Fix; Claims Processing Under 21.3% Cut Begins Today
With Medicare Fee Cut Looming, Physicians Weigh Their Options
