You’re unlikely to have to face an onerous new rule that would require physicians to sign all clinical lab orders beginning April 1, Part B News has learned. The clinical signature requirement was set to hit Jan. 1, 2011, but was delayed after protests by physician and lab groups, including the American Clinical Laboratory Association (ACLA).

You wouldn’t have to worry about your Medicare payments falling by 30% or more until 2014 if a pay-fix provision in President Obama’s proposed budget for fiscal 2012 is enacted. Your payments would see 0% updates in 2012 and 2013, paid for by $62 billion in savings the White House expects to get out of Medicare and Medicaid.

Be prepared to treat more Medicaid-eligible patients than you are used to treating. Many health plans are trying to increase their revenues by adding or expanding their Medicaid managed care product offerings. Private payers are eyeing Medicaid business now that the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA), the massive health reform law enacted March 2010, will swell the ranks of Medicaid-eligible patients.

A rise in place of service errors by your peers kept the improper payment rate in the double digits for the 2010 fiscal year that ended in September. The Comprehensive Error Rate Test (CERT) improper payment rate was 10.5% in 2010, nearly two percentage points lower than the 2009 rate, CMS says.

You won’t have much longer to wait for any annual wellness visits (AWVs) that were mistakenly denied to be repaid, CMS officials tell Part B News. Automatic reprocessing of affected claims is well underway at the affected Medicare Administrative Contractors (MACs).

Enrollment forms won’t be updated with the new advanced diagnostic imaging accreditation specialty designation until July, a CMS official confirmed with Part B News. This will leave imaging providers with less than six full months to update enrollment information before a Jan. 1, 2012 deadline.