Wednesday, Nov. 23, 2011
This Week's News
Congress must act to avert 27% Medicare payment cut
AMA toolkit helps physicians examine, update Medicare participation status
Congress acts to eliminate Medicare payment tax withholding
CMS announces 90-day grace period for HIPAA version 5010 enforcement
Column explains how health insurer monopolies harm physicians and patients
This Week's News
Congress acts to eliminate Medicare payment tax withholding
In a significant victory for physicians, AMA-supported legislation that would prevent Medicare from withholding 3 percent of physician payments is headed to President Obama, who is expected to sign it into law. The U.S. House of Representatives passed a bill last week removing the withholding provision, a week after the Senate did the same.
"The AMA applauds Congress for passing this important piece of legislation," AMA President Peter W. Carmel, MD, said in a statement. "This is an important step forward, but more work still needs to be done on Medicare. Physicians who care for Medicare patients face a drastic 27 percent cut on Jan. 1 due to the broken Medicare physician payment formula. The time is now for Congress to fix this formula."
