CMS has released this statement on its decision to hold Medicare claims as Congress works to pass a pay-fix. We summed this up in our report on the Medicare claims hold on Friday.

Check out our online RAC Target Alerts, which lists all Recovery Audit Contractor (RAC) targets approved by CMS. These targets will be updated online as new targets are approved or existing ones modified/removed.

The extenders bill that delays the 21% cut to Medicare payment rates appears to be going nowhere. Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) has brought the bill to the Senate floor at least twice over the last 24 hours. Durbin asks for the legislation to pass by unanimous consent, but Sen. Jim Bunning (R-Ky.) continues to object.

Under Senate rules, a bill cannot go forward when one or more senators objects to its passage. Bunning is objecting because the bill lacks offsets (meaning, it's not paid for by taxes or spending cuts elsewhere). Bunning's not the only Republican who probably objects, but he ends up looking like the bad guy ... or the good guy depending on your perspective.

The White House health care summit got underway at 10 a.m. You can watch live video of the summit streaming from CSPAN below. We'll be watching/listening for any Medicare-related news. Enjoy!

Senate Democrats are working on a 30-day Medicare payment patch that would delay the 21% cut to March 28. It's unknown if Republicans will support the measure, which includes several other extensions.

The Congressional Budget Office says the Medicare provision in the "Temporary Extension Act of 2010" would cost about $1 billion.

We'll have more in the next issue of Part B News and www.PartBNews.com later this week.