2010

INTRODUCTION

Few discussions of health care reform, i.e. the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) occur without mentioning the fact that the legislation exceeded 2,000 pages, therefore, a summary of the provisions that directly affect your reimbursement and your practice structure and health care coverage obligations might be helpful. 

I.          MEDICARE REIMBURSEMENT

1.         Physician

On June 17, 2010, the federal government published the final interim regulations on the “grandfathering” of healthcare plans that existed when the health care reform legislation became law on March 23, 2010. These rules will help employers and plan sponsors determine if their health care plans comply with the health care reform law. Under the new rules

Last Thursday, June 17th, the Supreme Court of the United States held that the National Labor Relations Board lacked authority to act in nearly 600 decisions issued from the end of 2007 to March of this year. In New Process Steel v. National Labor Relations Board that the Board was not authorized to issue decisions when

Senate passes six-month SGR fix

The U.S. Senate passed an amended version of H.R. 3962, now called the “Preservation of Access to Care for Medicare Beneficiaries and Pension Relief Act of 2010,” by unanimous consent this afternoon. This legislation provides a 2.2 percent Medicare physician payment update for six months, from June 1 through Nov.

The 2010 Medicare Physician Fee Schedule

The Continuing Extension Act of 2010, enacted on April 15, 2010, extended the zero percent (0%) update to the 2010 Medicare Physician Fee Schedule (MPFS) through May 31, 2010.  At this time, Congress is debating the elimination of the negative update that took effect June 1, 2010.  The Centers