The latest temporary fix to the Medicare Physician Fee Schedule, which expires on March 31st,  was not renewed prior to the U. S. Senate adjourning for its Spring recess this past Friday. The Senate will now be in recess until April 12th.

In response to this, in similar fashion to a month ago, CMS has declared a 10-business-day freeze on the processing of claims with dates of service of April 1st and after. Because this freeze is measured in business days, it will end on Wednesday, April 14th, which gives the Senate two days to pass a fix.

The latest physician fee schedule fix is attached to a bill that would among other things, extend unemployment benefits. This latest hold was initiated by Sen. Tom Coburn of Oklahoma, who objected based on there not being equal cuts in spending. The ironic twist is that Senator Coburn was a practicing OB/GYN for 11 years prior to beginning his political career. His hold on the bill would appear to complete his journey away from the science of medicine.

As the great songwriter Steve Goodman once wrote, “It’s not hard to get along with somebody else’s troubles”.

8:55 am, March 29th, 2010 |