CMS delays Medicare doctor pay cut until after congressional recess

"Doctors slated to have their Medicare reimbursements cut 21 percent on April 1 got a reprieve from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, which is delaying lowered payments until after Congress reconvenes," Bloomberg BusinessWeek reports. CMS "has ordered that claims submitted on or after April 1 be held for an added 10 days before being paid, said spokesman Peter Ashkenaz. That's on top of the 14 days the Baltimore-based CMS usually holds claims. The decision delays scheduled reductions in Medicare payments until after Congress reconvenes April 12. Lawmakers have put off those cuts every year, except one, since they were introduced as part of the Balanced Budget Act in 1997" (Wechsler, 3/29).

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This article was reprinted from khn.org with permission from the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation. Kaiser Health News, an editorially independent news service, is a program of the Kaiser Family Foundation, a nonpartisan health care policy research organization unaffiliated with Kaiser Permanente.