Congress Passes Another Short Term Extention of the 2009 Medicare Physician Payment Rate to Restore 21 Percent Cut

April 16, 2010 –
Last night President Obama signed the Continuing Extension Act of 2010 (H.R. 4851), into law, reinstating Medicare physician payments to where they were on March 31 and again postponing the 21.3 percent cut that was supposed to take effect in 2010. This most recent extension of 2009 payment rates will continue through the end of May, and will be applied retroactively to all physician services provided to Medicare patients in April. The legislation passed the Senate at about 5:45 pm by a bipartisan vote of 59-38, and subsequently passed the House of Representatives shortly after 8:00 pm by a bipartisan vote of 289-112.
The hold on processing April claims that the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) had placed to avoid implementing the payment cut technically expired on April 15, but because Congressional action was so imminent, we do not believe many claims were actually processed at the lower payment rates. Any claims paid that reflected the 21.3 percent cut will be reprocessed automatically without any action required from physicians.
The Society thanks all members who took part in the recent Advocacy Campaign that successfully helped urge the Congress to restore physician payment rates.

Abraham Mittelman, MD
NYSSMOH, President