Short-Term Medicare Payment Increase Passed and Signed into Law, Future Cuts Still Looming
Shortly after 7:00 p.m. on June 24, the House passed H.R. 3962, now called the "Preservation of Access to Care for Medicare Beneficiaries and Pension Relief Act of 2010", which provides a 2.2 percent Medicare fee schedule update for physician services through November 2010. The Senate had previously passed this legislation on June 18. The bill passed by a bipartisan vote of 417 to 1. (All members of the West Virginia delegation voted yes, the one no vote was George Miller of California) Since the same legislation passed the Senate, the bill was sent promptly to President Obama’s desk and signed into law the next morning on June 25, 2010.
The 2.2 percent fee increase provided by H.R. 3962 replaces the 21 percent Medicare cut which was in effect, and it is being applied retroactively to claims for services provided on or after June 1.
Since this is another short-term fix, Congress will once again be back at the drawing board in six months to address an even larger payment cut at that time. The WVSMA is disappointed that a permanent fix was not reached and will continue working with the AMA to encourage Congress to take appropriate steps to end this flawed payment system.
