Medpagetoday.com
REPORTS HERE that "The Senate left Friday on a long weekend, which means that no changes
will be made to Medicare reimbursement rates until sometime next week
at the earliest. When senators returned to their home states for a Memorial Day break
at the end of May, they left a major piece of unfinished business in the
hopper: a bill to extend a number of expired federal programs.
The bill would also give physicians who treat Medicare patients a
19-month reprieve, during which their reimbursement rates would not be
cut. The House passed the bill on May 28."
"Because the Senate failed to pass the House version of the bill, a
21% pay cut for doctors who treat Medicare patients technically went
into effect June 1. However -- as it has done twice already this year
-- the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) announced that
contractors would not process any claims for medical services delivered
on the first 10 business days of the month. That grace period ends on Monday. So starting June 15, CMS will begin
processing claims for services provided on June 1 and later at the new,
much lower rate."
"That is, unless the Senate passes a bill before then. Senate leaders
had said the tax extenders bill -- with the 19-month "doc fix" --
would likely come up for a vote early next week, but with the Senate out
until the middle of Monday afternoon, it now looks as if the vote won't
come until next Tuesday, the 15th, at the earliest."
"As for whether CMS will extend the amount of time that claims are
being held, an agency spokeswoman said she had no updated information on
the subject."
In a related story the Associated Press REPORTS HERE that "President Barack Obama
is asking Republican lawmakers to approve billions of dollars in new spending
to avert a scheduled 21 percent cut in payments to doctors who treat
Medicare patients. If GOP senators don't allow the stalled proposal to
pass, some doctors will stop treating Medicare recipients, Obama said in his weekly
radio and Internet address Saturday."
"The Senate's top Republican, Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, said his party
wants to avoid reducing physicians'
fees, but do it without adding to the deficit — meaning spending cuts elsewhere."
"The
doc fix is part of a large, Democratic-drafted
bill that would extend several popular tax breaks while greatly
increasing the
tax
that oil companies pay into a spill liability fund. Republican senators
have focused their objections on the bill's tax increases, not the
doctors' pay matter."
President Obama said: "I am committed
to permanently reforming this Medicare formula in a way that balances
fiscal responsibility
with the responsibility we have to doctors and seniors."
"The president said he is 'absolutely willing to take
the difficult steps necessary to lower the cost of Medicare and put our
budget on a more fiscally sustainable path. But I'm not willing to do
that by punishing hardworking physicians or the millions of Americans who
count on Medicare. That's just wrong. And that's why in the short-term,
Congress must act
to prevent this pay cut to doctors'."
