You can expect to get paid on time despite the hold CMS has on your claims through Jan. 17. Your 2012 claims are still subject to the 14-day payment floor, the length of time from when CMS receives electronic claims and must keep them, for error-free claims, a CMS official says.

You now have an extra six weeks to complete your applications to participate in a Bundled Payments for Care Improvement project. CMS announced the deadline for Models 2 through 4 has been extended from March 15, 2012 to April 30, 2012.

Remember:  Bundled payments models 2 and 3 pertain to post-discharge care, and are the only two models that allow individual physician practices to participate. Models 1 and 4 are for inpatient stays only.

You aren't alone if you thought your bank accounts were a little bit smaller in the New Year thanks to dwindling reimburesement checks. CMS is holding all 2012 claims for 10 days, the agency reports in a Jan. 5 e-newsletter article. 

That means you will not get paid for claims submitted after Jan. 1 until Jan. 18 at the earliest. CMS is holding all claims with a date of service of Jan. 1 or later for up to 10 business days in order to test and implement the 2012 Medicare Physician Fee Schedule, CMS announced. 

Last month’s news of CMS’ HIPAA 5010 enforcement delay may have come as a relief to many of you, but a mid-December survey from the Medical Group Management Association (MGMA) indicates the new March 31 enforcement date is still not enough time.

Only 32% of responding practices upgraded to version 5010 and completed internal testing, 32% completed testing with their Medicare Administrative Contractors and 18% of respondents completed testing with Medicaid plans, according to the survey results.

I bet you weren't expecting Santa to bring you this:

Your Medicare payments are safe from the 27.4% sustainable growth rate (SGR) cut, but not for long. After nearly a weeklong stalemate, Congress passed a bill Dec. 22 to keep the SGR cut at bay, extend payroll tax breaks and unemployment benefits through February. This means you and your peers will see a 0% update on your Medicare payments until March 1 unless Congress votes to extend the “doc fix.”