Since Congress waited until late December to pass an intervention to temporarily avert the scheduled cut in 2008 Medicare physician payments, some Medicare contractors have not yet updated their Web sites to reflect the updated physician fee schedule.

The AMA, KMA, and the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) have heard from numerous physicians concerned about whether they will be paid correctly under the law. CMS has advised the AMA that all contractors were instructed to process claims with January 2008 dates of service using the new fees starting Jan. 7. The new fee schedule should be posted on contractors' Web sites by Jan. 11.

The "Medicare Physician Fee Schedule Look-Up" link on the CMS Web site, which allows users to customize a search, will be updated with the new 2008 fees during the week of Jan. 21. But the carrier-specific public use files are available now on the CMS Web site.

The law postpones for six months the 10.1 percent cut in the Medicare conversion factor and instead provides for a 0.5 percent increase from Jan. 1 through June 30. On July 1, the cut is scheduled to take effect, unless Congress intervenes. With a steep payment cut looming in the middle of the year, the decision to participate in Medicare in 2008 is more complicated than it was previously, particularly because your decision is binding for the entire year. CMS has extended the deadline to change your participation status to Feb. 15. The AMA has posted on its Web site updated information about the various Medicare participation options and how the new law may affect your practice.


Visit the AMA website to read detailed information about Medicare participation options as well as to learn how the new law may affect physician practices.

Source: AMA/Federation News January 8, 2008

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