The House of Representatives passed a bill yesterday to forestall scheduled cuts to Medicare physician payments through April 1, 2015, to delay the ICD-10 implementation deadline for one year, and to suspend enforcement of the controversial two-midnight policy for an additional six months.
The bill now heads to the Senate, with a vote slated for Monday.
Medicare physician payments are currently scheduled to be cut by 24 percent on April 1 without congressional action to fix to the Sustainable Growth Rate (SGR) formula. The bill, H.R. 4302, introduced by Joseph Pitts (R-Pa.), proposed replacing the reimbursement cut with a 0.5 percent payment update through the end of 2014, and a zero percent payment update for the period of Jan. 1 through March 31, 2015.
The bill would also delay implementation of the ICD-10 code-set until Oct. 1, 2015; prohibit Medicare recovery audit contractors (RACs) from auditing inpatient claims spanning less than two midnights for the six-month period through March 31, 2015; and extend the Medicare-dependent Hospital Program, low-volume adjustment and ambulance add-on payments through April 1, 2015.
It would also delay the start of the Medicaid Disproportionate Share Hospital cuts for one year, until 2017; and extend the DSH cuts for an additional year through 2024.
Of course, none of this will become law unless passed by the Senate without amendments, and signed by the president. More to come next week.