Less paperwork: medicare reform said to offer relief to doctors.(Practice Trends)

WASHINGTON -- The 1.5% payment update isn't the only good news for physicians in the Medicare reform law, said Dr. Mark McClellan, administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.

"The law includes provisions intended to make it easier for doctors to spend more time with their patients and less time with paperwork," Dr. McClellan said at a national advocacy conference sponsored by the American Medical Association.

The new law makes payment reviews less complicated and gives physicians additional time to repay overpayments. It also allows physicians to correct minor errors and omissions in submitted claims.

The law provides a "safe harbor" for physicians who rely on advice from Medicare contractors that turns out to be wrong, Dr. McClellan said. "And we're not going to allow the collection of interest or penalties in cases like this," he said.

Medicare also is ending the practice known as "extrapolation," Dr. McClellan said. In the past, auditors were able to review as few as 30 claims, and if a few of these claims had been billed improperly or contained an error, the auditors could extrapolate from those errors to thousands of other claims over a 4-year period.

"Physicians can dispute the findings but they must fork over the fines while they are carrying on that fight," he said. "That wastes your time, and it's unfair, and we're ending it."

Reforms aimed at making Medicare carriers more responsive to physicians are also included in the bill, Dr. McClellan said. Under the ...