Congress Delays Implementation of 21% Medicare Fee Cut to June 1
The U.S. House of Representatives voted 289-112 this morning to approve H.R. 4851, the Continuing Extension Act of 2010. The bill, which was approved by the Senate yesterday and sent back to the House for a final vote on amendments, will delay the proposed 21 percent cut in Medicare Physician rates, as set out in the 2010 Medicare Physician Fee Schedule (MPFS). President Obama is expected to sign the bill later today.
The House vote represents the third delay in implementing the 2010 MPFS, and it is suspected that doctors might never actually experience the effects of the cuts. Earlier this month, the Senate recessed without voting on H.R. 4851 and in order to avoid having the cuts take immediate effect, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services instructed contractors to avoid proceesing Medicare claims for 10 business days. The last-minute Senate voted spared physicians from seeing reductions to processed claims.
