Medicare Information for Practitioners: Physician Fee Cut Delayed Until July 1

January 8, 2008 – The Medicare, Medicaid, and State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) Extension Act of 2007 made several changes affecting payments to physicians. One such change provides for a 0.5 percent increase to the Medicare Physician Fee Schedule (MPFS) conversion factor for dates of service beginning January 1 through June 30, 2008, instead of the (negative) -10.1 percent that was scheduled to take place. Effective for dates of service on and after July 1, 2008, the (negative) -10.1 percent update to the physician fee schedule will go into effect. Your Medicare contractors have been instructed to be ready to process claims with January 2008 dates of service with the new fees beginning January 7, 2008.

The new fees are expected to be posted on your local contractor’s Web site no later than January 11, 2008. The "Medicare Physician Fee Schedule Look-Up" link on the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) Web site, which allows you to customize your search, will be updated with the new 2008 fees during the week of January 21, 2008. However, the carrier specific public use files are available now on the CMS Web site for the new 2008 MPFS rates.

For information about the Medicare, Medicaid, and SCHIP Extension Act of 2007, please see ASH's previous news update on the physician fee cut.