AccessMyLibrary provides FREE access to over 30 million articles from top publications available through your library.
Create a link to this page
Copy and paste this link tag into your Web page or blog:
Congress finally delivers on Medicare payment fix. (Positive Update of 1.6% in 2003).
WASHINGTON -- Congress finally answered the call from medical organizations to increase Medicare physician payment rates.
House and Senate conferees for the fiscal year 2003 omnibus spending bill last month reached an agreement that would protect the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services from lawsuits if it fixed the flawed reimbursement formula. The final spending bill provided $397.4 billion for the Department of Health and Human Services and other agencies.
President Bush was expected to sign the bill at press time. Once the bill is signed, Medicare is expected to announce that physician fees for the remainder of 2003 will reflect a positive update of 1.6% instead of the projected 4.4% cut.
"This is not just a 1-year fix," Robert Doherty, senior vice president for governmental affairs and public policy with the American College of Physicians--American Society of Internal Medicine, told this newspaper. "Putting money back into the Medicare baseline will yield a better update in all future years."
The increase for physicians is particularly notable, given that recent federal budget negotiations had been marked by across-the-board freezes and cuts for many other programs, Mr. Doherty said.
The Congressional Budget Office estimates that the new payment provision would increase baseline spending for physician services by $54 billion over 10 years.
At press time, CMS expected to be able to implement the new rates for services beginning March 1, an agency spokeswoman told this newspaper.
- Panel endorses MedPAC's 2.7% positive update: only Congress, not CMS, has the...
- Magazine article from: Internal Medicine News Silverman, Jennifer October 1, 2005 700+ words
...Association, said the AMA was confident of CMS' authority to remove the drugs. "Drugs are not paid under the Medicare physician fee schedule, and it is illogical to include them in calculating the SGR," Dr. Hoven said in her testimony...
- CMS Proposes Further Changes To The Medicare Anti-Markup Rule.(Centers for...
- News wire article from: Mondaq Business Briefing Johnson, Victoria November 4, 2008 700+ words
...anti-markup rule in the final 2008 Medicare Physician Fee Schedule. Due to the controversial...by an outside supplier. The 2007 Medicare Physician Fee Schedule proposed to extend the...employee. CMS moved forward in the 2008 Medicare Physician Fee Schedule with the concept of...
- Medicare Physician Payments: Trends in Service Utilization, Spending, and Fees...
- General Accounting Office Reports & Testimony August 1, 2006 700+ words
...asked to discuss the SGR system and Medicare physician payments. This statement addresses...statement is based on two GAO reports: Medicare Physician Services: Use of Services Increasing...06-704, July 21, 2006), and Medicare Physician Payments: Concerns about Spending...
- President Bush Fixes Medicare Physician Payment Mistake in '04 Budget;...
- Press release article from: PR Newswire February 3, 2003 700+ words
...Bush for his decision to fix the Medicare physician payment mistake in his 2004 budget...Administration made errors in calculating Medicare physician payment, including underestimating...errors set in motion a series of deep Medicare physician payment cuts that have been ...
- Medicare physician payment system changed by Congress.
- Magazine article from: National Underwriter Life & Health-Financial Services Edition Fisher, Mary Jane December 11, 1989 700+ words
Medicare Physician Payment System Changed By Congress WASHINGTON--The Medicare physician payment system will be reformed, beginning...The AMA "welcomed" the change in the Medicare physician reimbursement system, according to an...
- In its July update to the 2008 Medicare physician fee schedule database, CMS...
- Magazine article from: Healthcare Financial Management July 1, 2008 700+ words
In its July update to the 2008 Medicare physician fee schedule database, CMS explains that payment files were issued to contractors based on the 2008 Medicare physician fee schedule (MPFS) final rule. CMS is amending those payment files and...
- Medicare physician payment changes 'substantial.'
- Magazine article from: National Underwriter Life & Health-Financial Services Edition Fisher, Mary Jane April 17, 1995 700+ words
...report to Congress, said the effects of changes in the Medicare physician payment system have been "substantial" and many of the...Subcommittee. In 1989 Congress created a new system of Medicare physician payment consistings of a fee schedule based on resource...
- Medicare Physician Payments: Information on Spending Trends and Targets.
- General Accounting Office Reports & Testimony August 1, 2004 700+ words
...5.4 percent in 2002. GAO was asked to discuss (1) Medicare physician spending trends both before and after the implementation...discipline by establishing a system of spending targets for Medicare physician services along with a fee schedule beginning in 1992...