Physicians' groups are calling on the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services to pay "long-overdue" 2010 Medicare reimbursements.
The American Medical Association, along with medical societies representing all 50 states and the District of Columbia and 57 national medical specialty societies, on Friday sent a letter to Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius. According to the groups, CMS could use the $200 million allocated by Congress last week in the Medicare and Medicaid Extenders Act of 2010 to settle the debt incurred to physicians under the Affordable Care Act.
"After weathering a year filled with uncertainties from continuous threats of cuts to Medicare payments, many physicians are not in a position to rely on IOUs from the government," said Cecil B. Wilson, MD, the AMA's president. "We urge CMS to provide physicians with prompt information about how these claims will be handled, and to make the reimbursement process as quick and simple as possible."
In the letter, the organizations outlined the six provisions in the Affordable Care Act that call for physicians to be reimbursed at new payment levels. These provisions state that the new levels would be retroactive and apply through all of 2010, including the months prior to the legislation’s enactment, they said. However, those payments were not processed and physicians are waiting to receive reimbursements from the first half of the year.
"These missing payments are having a real impact," Wilson said. "Seventy-eight percent of office-based physicians are in small practices. Waiting for these reimbursements can cause them particular hardship as they struggle to keep their practices viable and care for Medicare patients."