Senate Approves Delaying Physician Pay Cut Until October 1
The Senate voted on 03/10/2010 to delay a 21.2% physician pay cut in Medicare reimbursement until October 1. The bill that the Senate approved including a $138 billion package of legislation, including tax extenders and unemployment aid that the White House said is critically important to the country’s economic recovery.
The Baucus bill appears to be a compromise between senators who wanted to implement a one-year payment fix and others who were seeking another “short bridge” to give Congress more time to possibly repeal the formula that calls for annual physician payment cuts.
President Signs Stopgap Bill to Delay Medicare Physician Payment Cut
President Obama signed into law legislation that provides a stopgap, 31-day delay of the 21.2 percent Medicare physician pay cut that was scheduled to take effect on March 1. The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services subsequently advised providers that claims with dates of service March 1 and later, which were being held by Medicare contractors, will be released for processing and payment.
