Congress Confirms Medicare Legislation
June 16, 2008 - The Senate voted 70 to 26 to override the president's veto of the Medicare Improvement Act for Patients and Providers, following a successful override vote of the House earlier that day.
The override reverses the 10.6 percent payment cut that went into effect on July 1 and halts the 5.4 percent cut scheduled for January 1, 2009. In addition, legislation also authorizes a 1.1% increase in physician fee schedule payments effective January 1, 2009. It also extends the physician quality reporting initiative (PQRI) through December 31, 2009 with an increase in the PQRI bonus to 2.0% for 2009 and 2010.
Because the legislation runs through 2009, Congress will still have to address the underlying SGR formula problem that is at the root of these cuts, however, it was determined that would be discussed at a later date.
Physicians, non-physician practitioners and other providers of services paid under the MPFS should begin to recieve payment at the 0.5% update rates in approximately 10 business days, or less. Meanwhile, to avoid disruption to payments, Medicare contractors will continue to process the claims that have been on hold on a rolling basis (first in/first out) for the payment at the -10.6% update level. After local contractors begin to pay claims at the new 0.5% rate, to the extent possible, the contractor will begin to automatically reprocess any claims paid at the lower rates.