Part B Payment: Expect Claims To Be Released Today

MACs won’t process June claims until today, in hopes that Congress will act.

The Senate’s delays could mean serious payment crunches for your practice.

Last month, the freeze that has been keeping the Medicare conversion factor at 2009 levels expired, meaning that Part B practices were due to face a 21-percent cut effective for dates of service June 1 and thereafter. Because Congress had not yet intervened to stop those cuts, CMS initially instructed MACs to hold claims for the first 10 business days of June while lawmakers could deliberate whether to eliminate the looming cuts.

When the Senate reconvened on June 7, many analysts expected its members to vote on H.R. 4213, “The American Jobs and Closing Tax Loopholes Act of 2010,” which was expected to increase your payments through the end of this year, according to the text listed on the House Ways and Means Committee Web site. However, the bill has not passed, leading CMS to extend the MACs’ claims hold through June 17.

According to a June 14 CMS notification, the agency directed its contractors “to continue holding June 1 and later claims through Thursday, June 17, lifting the hold on Friday, June 18.”

CMS acknowledged in its June 14 notification that the lengthened claims hold period “may present cash flow problems for some Medicare providers. However, we expect that the delay, if any, beyond the normal processing period will be only a few days.”

The impact of the 17-day claims hold will vary, depending on the practice and how many Medicare patients it sees, says Quinten A. Buechner, MS, MDiv, CPC, ACSFP/GI/PEDS, PCS, CCP, CMSCS, president of ProActive Consultants in Cumberland, Wis.

Those practices with large Medicare populations could face a cash flow crisis, says Barbara J. Cobuzzi, MBA, CPC, CENTC, CPC-H, CPC-P, CPC-I,...

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21 Percent Pay Cut Kicked in April 1 — But MACs Are Holding Claims

No legislative wrangling can take place until April 12.

Unless Congress steps in soon, you could be facing the 21.2 percent Medicare pay cut that you’ve feared since January.

Despite several Congressional attempts to cobble together another temporary pay fix...

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Think You Understand the New Consult Rules? Find Out Fast

Check your 2010 consultation coding savvy.

Find out if you’re set to properly code your physician’s consultation services this year by tackling three problems and their solutions.

Check With Your MAC for Guidance

When…

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Think You Understand the New Consult Rules? Find Out Fast

Test your 2010 consultation coding understanding with these questions. Consultation coding has every practice on edge this year. Ensure that you’ve got a handle on this complicated coding and billing situation by trying your hand at this question. Question: When a visit with a Medicare inpatient that would normally have been coded as a consultation does not [...] Related articles:

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