Here is a compliation of stories regarding the 10 BUSINESS day delay in implementing the 10.6% cut in the Physician’s Medicare fee Schedule. This would push the deadline back to July 15th. Here is the story from the NAHU website:
In continuing coverage from previous editions of NAHU Newswire, the AP (7/1, Abrams) reports that the “Bush administration said Monday it will delay paying doctors for treating Medicare patients in early July to give Congress more time to block a scheduled 10.6 percent fee cut.” The Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) “will instruct its contractors to delay the processing of any physician or non-physician Medicare claims for healthcare services given during the first 10 business days of July,” the agency said. “Claims for services received on before June 30 will be processed as usual.”
Two “senior Democratic senators,” Sen. Jay Rockefeller (W.Va.) and Sen. Chuck Schumer (N.Y.), on Monday claimed the CMS’s action “is nothing more than a ruse,” according to The Hill (7/1, Young). In a letter to Health and Human Services Secretary Mike Leavitt, the senators wrote that “the administration is misleading the public by claiming to provide a ‘temporary hold’ on payment.” The senators noted, “Current law already requires that all Medicare claims submitted by physicians be withheld for 13 days prior to payment (for claims submitted electronically).”
Bloomberg (7/1, Marcus) notes that according to the senators, “[t]he way the administration can truly help doctors in the Medicare program is to stop protecting the profits of health insurers.” Republicans had protested cuts to Medicare Advantage in the bill.
The Chicago Tribune (7/1, Japsen) adds, “Should the cut eventually take effect, it could have big ramifications for patients in certain parts of the country where doctors say they could not afford to see Medicare patients if a 10 percent payment reduction occurred.” In a poll by the American Medical Association, “[a]bout 60 percent of physicians who responded…said they would limit the number of new Medicare patients they would see if such a cut took effect this year.”
Congressional Quarterly (7/1, Wayne) explains that the “move comes after Congress adjourned for its one-week July Fourth recess without clearing legislation to negate” the cuts. “The delay gives Congress eight calendar days after lawmakers return on July 7 to pass legislation.” Bush has said, however, that “he would veto the bill that failed in the Senate.” MedPage Today (6/30, Peck), Modern Healthcare (6/30, Lubell), and the Wall Street Journal‘s (6/30, Rubenstein) Health Blog also covered the story.
