Medicare Fee Schedule Fix Extended to May 31

Medicare Fee Schedule Fix Extended to May 31
Following passage by the Senate and House of Representatives last night President Obama signed the Continuing Extension Act (HR 4851), which temporarily prevents the 21.2% Medicare physician fee schedule payment cut by extending 2009 rates until May 31. The law is retroactive to April 1. Consequently, effective immediately, claims with dates of service April 1 and later, which were being held by Medicare contractors, are being released for processing and payment. Statutory payment floors still apply and, therefore, clean electronic claims cannot be paid before 14 calendar days after the date they are received by Medicare contractors (29 calendar days for clean paper claims).

HR 4851 addresses other key expiring provisions such as unemployment insurance and COBRA benefits.

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