Wednesday, Jan. 4, 2012
This Week's News
Lobby Congress on medicine's key issues during National Advocacy Conference
Medicare participation deadline extended to Feb. 14
New AMA study shows cost burden of U.S. medical liability system
Important changes made to Medicare quality reporting program
AMA members: Discuss key advocacy topics in new online forum
This Week's News
Medicare participation deadline extended to Feb. 14
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has announced a six-week extension to the annual Medicare participation enrollment period, which was scheduled to conclude Dec. 31. Physicians’ Medicare participation elections or withdrawals must be postmarked on or before Feb. 14.
This extension comes as Congress averted a 27 percent cut in physician Medicare payments that was scheduled for Jan. 1, preventing the cut for two months as lawmakers work on a longer-term agreement. Although the two-month patch averted the 27 percent Medicare payment, other changes that were included in the final rule for the 2012 Medicare physician payment schedule will still take effect on Jan. 1.
While participation status changes can be made into February, the effective date for these changes remains Jan. 1. Payment rate and other changes associated with becoming a non-participating physician will be retroactive to Jan. 1.
Physicians can use the AMA’s Medicare Participation Kit to help them evaluate their participation options.
Read more about the Medicare physician payment patch in a recent AMA alert.
