Medicare physician payment cuts reversed

Good news for physicians: the U.S. House of Representatives voted today to reverse the 4.4 percent cut in Medicare physician payment that went into effect on January 1. This measure is part of federal budget legislation that is set to make $39 billion of cuts over five years. It will now be sent to the President’s desk to be signed into law.

CMS officials said earlier that Medicare would retroactively adjust physician payment to 2005 levels if the bill passed unchanged and was signed by President Bush. They further explained that resubmission of affected claims by physicians is not expected, as they should be automatically adjusted, and physicians will receive remittance statements that will show the adjusted amounts. Current plans suggest that physicians should receive one check to reimburse the adjustments with documentation indicating which claims were amended.

The House originally passed similar budget legislation on Dec. 19, but revisions in the Senate caused it to be sent back to the House for another round of voting. Since the House had adjourned for the remainder of the year, the vote was delayed until Feb. 1.

AAFP and TAFP can thank its staff and members, who worked tirelessly to make the voice of family medicine heard on this subject. AAFP continuously encourages members to take an active role in government issues by contacting their representatives and advising them on the issues important to family medicine. To locate your representatives’ contact information and access prepared statements on these issues, visit AAFP’s Legislative Action Center, capitol.aafp.org.

While the reversal of planned Medicare reimbursement cuts is certainly a victory for physicians, Medicare and Medicaid sustained deep blows as the programs providing health care for the poor will see reductions of 0.3 and 0.4 percent, or $3 billion over five years.

Other resources:

For more information about the plans for retroactive reimbursements, check out helpful Q&As about 2006 Medicare physician payment and claims processing from the American Medical Association at www.ama-assn.org/ama1/pub/upload/mm/-1/medicare06qanda.pdf, or from the American College of Physicians at www.acponline.org/college/misc/06med_pay.htm?hp.