The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services has instructed its contractors to hold claims containing services paid under the Medicare physician fee schedule for the first 10 business days of June.
Congressional leaders are trying to avert a 21 percent payment cut scheduled to take effect June 1 under the current fee schedule.
The 10-day hold applies to claims with dates of service of June 1 and later. According to CMS officials, the hold should have little impact on provider cash flow because electronic claims are not paid until at least 14 calendar days after receipt.
CMS also announced this week that it would not delay implementing its new Resource Utilization Group payment categories for skilled nursing facilities, known as RUG-IV.
Healthcare reform legislation delayed implementation of RUG-IV from Oct. 1, 2010 to Oct. 1, 2011. Additional legislation pending in Congress (H.R. 4213) would reauthorize implementation of RUG-IV on Oct. 1, 2010, as originally specified in the SNF prospective payment system final rule for FY 2010.
If the legislation does not pass, CMS intends to retroactively adjust the SNF payment rates to account for the one-year delay mandated by the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. The agency will also implement an updated SNF patient assessment instrument on Oct. 1, 2010.