Despite objections raised by the AOA and other patient and provider groups, Congress has failed to prevent a massive 21 percent cut in Medicare physician reimbursement from taking effect Apr. 1 (see Mar. 29 article).
As a result of this inaction, the AOA Washington Office has advised ODs to hold claims, if possible, with dates of service on or after Apr. 1, until Congress completes action on AOA-backed legislation to correct these drastic cuts in Medicare physician payments. AOA expects Congress to address this issue quickly when lawmakers return to Washington, D.C. next week.
The U.S. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has instructed its contractors to temporarily hold fee-for-service claim processing for 10 days; anticipating Congress will once again intervene to prevent the planned cuts. CMS will not process claims (with dates of service in April) for 10 days, but still expects to make payments within legal limits of 14 days (electronic claims) or 29 days (paper claims).
For optometrists, there are several options for services provided to Medicare beneficiaries this month: Read the rest of this entry ?
