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The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) has instructed its contractors to not process any provider claims for the first 10 business days of July to lessen the impact of the projected 10.6 percent reduction in payments that is scheduled to take place on July 1.
Last week, the Senate failed to pass legislation that would avert cuts to the Medicare Part B fee schedule before adjourning for their 4th of July recess. The House passed legislation would have retained reimbursement rates at the current 2008 level and provided for a 1.1 percent increase in 2009. The Senate is expected to vote again on Medicare legislation when they return the week of July 7.
CMS has the authority to hold payment on claims submitted the first two weeks of July. Currently, CMS is not permitted to pay claims sooner than 14 days (29 days for paper claims) and not later than the 30th day after they have been submitted by the provider for payment. By holding claims for health care services that are delivered on or after July 1, CMS will not be making any payments on the 10.6 percent reduction until July 15, at the earliest. Meanwhile, all claims for services delivered on or before June 30 will be processed and paid in regular order.
Please contact reimbursement@asha.org should you have any questions regarding the claims submission during this period. For questions or further information related to congressional activities on the Medicare legislation, please contact Ingrida Lusis, ASHA's Director of Federal and Political Advocacy, at ilusis@asha.org or by phone at 202-624-5951.
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