The American Medical Association maintains a website for current information on healthcare reform – from a provider perspective.
2010
Congress Passes Medicare Physician Fee Schedule One Year Extension
By Michael Cassidy on
Posted in Medicare & Reimbursement
Congress approves Medicare physician payment fix
The House of Representatives passed legislation this morning that averts a 24.9 percent Medicare payment cut to physicians that was scheduled to take effect on Jan. 1. The measure passed the Senate Wednesday evening by unanimous consent. To pay for the legislation, the bill changes policy regarding overpayments…
Senate Passes One Year Medicare Physician Fee Schedule Fix
By Michael Cassidy on
Posted in Medicare & Reimbursement
MGMA reported today:
Senate passes a 1-year Medicare physician payment patch; House to act next
The Senate passed today by unanimous consent legislation preventing a 24.9 percent cut in Medicare physician payments. The Medicare and Medicaid Extenders Act of 2010 (H.R. 4944) extends the current Medicare payment rates through Dec. 31, 2011. This one-year…
House Passes Legislation on Red Flags Rule
By Michael Cassidy on
Posted in Legal News
Contributed by Paul J. Welk
pwelk@tuckerlaw.com, 412.594.5536
On December 7, the House of Representatives passed S. 3987, the Red Flag Program Clarification Act of 2010. The Red Flags Rule requires financial institutions and creditors to develop and implement a written identity theft program. This legislation would exempt physical therapists and other health care providers from the…
Wrongful Databank Report Does Not Justify Defamation Action
By Michael Cassidy on
Posted in Credentialing and Peer Review
Frengell v. InterCare Community Health Network demonstrates the counterintuitive nature of certain peer review actions.
Dr. Frengell’s employment was terminated following the inappropriate prescription of narcotics. InterCare reported Dr. Frengell to the National Practitioners’ Data Bank, although the report was not required and the court concluded, and InterCare admitted, that it had not provided any…
President Signs Physician Payment and Therapy Relief Act of 2010
By Michael Cassidy on
Posted in Medicare & Reimbursement
Pres. Obama signed the Physician Payment and Therapy relief Act of 2010. This act extends the temporary 2.2 % medicare Physician Fee Schedule increase, which replaced the projected 23% SGR decrease for 2010, but only for one more month.
Red Flag Program Act of 2010
By Michael Cassidy on
Posted in Legal News
On November 30, 2010 the U.S. Senate passed the Red Flag Program Act of 2010 (Senate Bill 3987 available at http://thomas.loc.gov/) which seeks to exempt certain health care providers from the Red Flags Rule. The bill will next be considered by the House. Please check back for future updates on this legislation.
Amendment to the Healthcare Reform Grandfathering Rules
By Michael Cassidy on
Posted in Uncategorized
On November 15, 2010, the Internal Revenue Service, the Department of Labor, and the Department of Health and Human Services jointly issued an amendment to the interim final rules relating to status as a grandfathered plan under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. With the amendment, insured group health plans are now able to…
House Approves One Month “Patch” to SGR
By Michael Cassidy on
Posted in Medicare & Reimbursement
MGMA has reported that the House has approved the Senate bill delaying the 23% SGR Medicare decrease to the Medicare Physician Fee Schedule for one month. If signed by President Obama, this will apply only to the month of December, and will not address the mandatory SGR cuts for next year which, without further action, will be…
Senate Postpones 23% SGR Medicare Physician Fee Schedule Cut One Month
By Michael Cassidy on
Posted in Medicare & Reimbursement
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Senate Acts to Avert Medicare Physician Fee Cut On November 18, 2010, the Senate approved a bill that would postpone the scheduled 23% Medicare physician payment cut scheduled to take effect on December 1, 2010, for one month. If approved by the House of Representatives and signed into law |
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