Medicare's impending fiscal cliff for physicians

If the federal government does go over the "fiscal cliff" in a little more than a week, don't expect those overseeing physician reimbursements to pad the fall.

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) on Dec. 19 announced in an email and conference call with physicians that Medicare claims filed after the first of the year will be processed as normal, which means likely including a planned 26.5 percent reduction in the Medicare physician services conversion factor.

Physicians are also facing an additional 2 percent cut in the Medicare physician payment rate because of the Budget Control Act's sequestration provision.

Under current law, clean electronic claims are not paid sooner than 14 calendar days (29 days for paper claims) after the date of receipt. In similar past situations, CMS has taken advantage of that provision to have its contractors hold claims for up to 10 business days before processing them, in order to give Congress more time to act and to avoid processing claims twice when the conversion factor is in flux.

“The negative update of 27 percent under current law for the 2013 Medicare Physician Fee Schedule is scheduled to take effect on January 1, 2013,” CMS wrote in the email. “Given the current progress with the legislation, CMS must take steps to implement the negative update.”

CMS did say that it would notify physicians on or before Jan. 11, 2013, about the status of Congressional action to avert the negative update and next steps. Claims with dates of service on or before Dec. 31, 2012, will be unaffected in any case.

Ongoing efforts to avoid the cliff and override the planned rate reduction have so far failed and won't resume until after Christmas at the earliest.

In the meantime, you are advised to start taking steps to mitigate the disruption and meet your own financial obligations in January, in case the cuts actually take effect. This includes re-assessing your Medicare participation options and the extent to which you can continue to afford to care for Medicare beneficiaries. If you decide to limit your involvement with the Medicare program, notify your Medicare patients promptly, so that they, too, can explore other options to seek health care and medical treatment. Finally, you are encouraged to contact your Congressional representatives about this matter, and the American Academy of Family Physicians has provided a convenient means to do so.

–Kent Moore, Senior Strategist for Physician Payment for the American Academy of Family Physicians