Medicare Fee Freeze Extended to March 31, 2010

Once again, the Medicare Fee Freeze has been granted another temporary reprieve. The following statement was issued by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services:

"On March 2, 2010, President Obama signed into law the "Temporary Extension Act of 2010." Among other things, this law extends through March 31, 2010, the zero percent update to the Medicare Physician Fee Schedule that was in effect for claims with dates of service January 1, 2010, through February 28, 2010. Consequently, effective immediately, claims with dates of service March 1 and later which were being held by Medicare contractors will be released for processing and payment. Please keep in mind that the statutory payment floors still apply and, therefore, clean electronic claims cannot be paid before 14 calendar days after the date they are received by Medicare contractors (29 calendar days for clean paper claims).

"In addition, the new law extends through March 31, 2010, the exception process for therapy claims reaching the annual cap, retroactive to January 1, 2010. Affected providers may submit claims for exceptions to the annual therapy caps, with dates of service January 1 through March 31, 2010, using the KX modifier, following the pre-January 1, 2010, requirements for therapy cap exceptions."

Claims are being processed, but the war isn't over. The battle will continue for at least another month.

More Items in March 2010

• Mar 25, 2010
  What Changes With Obama Health Reform?
• Mar 17, 2010
  Short Outage
• Mar 05, 2010
  Announcing Searchable Modifiers!
• Mar 01, 2010
  Medicare Fee Freeze Not Officially Frozen - Claims Not Being Processed

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