21% Medicare Cuts Take Effect March 1 - Texas Journal of Chiropractic

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21% Medicare Cuts Take Effect March 1

Published 02/28/2010 - 6:00 p.m. CDT

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Medpagetoday.com reports HERE that "a 21% cut in Medicare reimbursement will go into effect March 1, after the Senate failed to pass a bill to stop the cuts. But the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) issued a guidance just hours after the Senate adjourned for the weekend that buys doctors some more time. 'We believe Congress is working to avoid the negative update that will take effect March 1, 2010,' the guidance reads. 'Consequently, CMS has instructed its contractors to hold claims containing services paid under the [Medicare Physician Fee Schedule] for the first 10 business days of March.'"

"Senators had tried Thursday night and Friday morning to pass a bill to delay the SGR-mandated decrease until the end of March...The $10 billion bill would have extended a number of federal programs set to expire, including a $7 billion extension of unemployment benefits. The Medicare reimbursement cuts were scheduled to begin on Jan. 1, but Congress voted in December to approve a three-month delay."

"The scheduled cuts are mandated under the sustainable growth rate (SGR) formula -- the Medicare accounting scheme that links Part B reimbursement to the gross domestic product (GDP). The formula has mandated large cuts every year over most of the last decade..."

"The Senate will work next week to pass a longer-term delay in the cuts, Regan Lachapelle, a spokesperson for Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.), told MedPage Today."

The AMA reported that "Physicians are urged to express their outrage to Congress about its terrible mismanagement of the Medicare and TRICARE programs, which are so important to the health and well-being of Americans who have served our nation so long and so well. Tell them: Congress had more than a year to repeal Medicare’s sustainable growth rate (SGR) formula and ensure the security and stability of the program. Instead, it has abandoned patients who rely on Medicare and TRICARE for their health care. Parliamentary procedures offer no excuse for the harm they are causing these programs. Stop playing games with patients and physicians; repeal the SGR formula once and for all."

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