As of today’s date, Congress has not yet fixed or even patched the expected 21% cut to the Medicare Physician Fee Schedule. A eNews alert sent out today by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services notifies physicians of the following:
“The negative update of 21% under current law for the Medicare Physician Fee Schedule is scheduled to take effect on April 1, 2015. Medicare Physician Fee Schedule claims for services rendered on or before March 31, 2015, are unaffected by the payment cut and will be processed and paid under normal procedures and time frames. The Administration urges Congress to take action to ensure these cuts do not take effect. However, until that happens, CMS must take steps to implement the negative update. Under current law, electronic claims are not paid sooner than 14 calendar days (29 days for paper claims) after the date of receipt. CMS will notify you on or before April 11, 2015, with more information about the status of Congressional action to avert the negative update and next steps.” (CMS Medicare Learning Network)
Physicians should keep a close on how this issue develops as it could impact practice cash flow even it a fix is put in place.