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The 7-month, Medicare pay-fix section in the Senate jobs bill has been carved out -- leaving no clear path to removing the 21% payment cut set for March 1.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) cited concerns about the overall size of the bill for removing several provisions, including the pay-fix language, that amounted to $70 billion. So, it's looking more and more likely that the 21% cut will go through without further delay.

Senate Democrats are moving to create a seven-month, pay-fix patch that moves the 21% cut to Medicare reimbursements from March 1 to October 1, 2010. A draft version of the Senate's jobs bill obtained by Part B News contains the temporary "doc fix" and several other Medicare provisions, such as an extension of the Geographic Practice Cost Indices (GPCIs) work floor and therapy caps exception.

We're buried under snow from a weekend storm here in the Washington metro area. I know we're not going to invoke much sympathy from most parts of the country, but those living in states along the Mid-Atlantic can't go anywhere right now (those of us at Part B News are working from our respective homes today).

The federal budget for fiscal year 2011 (Oct. 1, 2010-Sept. 30, 2011) shows HHS will increase efforts to ferret out "health care fraud and reduce improper payments."

Medical Group Management Association (MGMA) President William Jessee, MD, recently gave "MGMA's State of the Medical Practice" address for 2010. The speech was somber (discussing the challenges over the last few years) but also optimistic (we've all turned the corner on the 2000s).

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