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 today and the Senate voted on it yesterday, so now it goes to President Obama’s desk for his signature. 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 today. “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.”
Check out this week’s edition of Part B Insider for more on this story.