Medicare Physician Cut Set for April 1st

With the Senate failing to extend the Medicare SGR formula before Congress left for the 2-week recess, physicians again are faced with a 21.3% cut in Medicare reimbursement effective April 1st. The House already passed H.R. 4851, which includes an extension of the SGR Medicare formula, in addition to COBRA and unemployment benefits, but the Senate was not able to vote on this bill prior to recess. The Senate is planning to call for a cloture vote after recess, which if supported by 60 Senators, will allow the Senate to vote on the legislation. This is expected to occur April 12th. This means that there will most likely be a gap that will include the 21.3% reduction in Medicare reimbursement. The Center for Medicare and Medicaid (CMS) should be making an announcement soon discussing how they will handle this issue. Other policy sites are stating that judging on past experience, CMS will be forced to process claims at the reduced reimbursement rates for at least 10 days.