Medicare Compliance & Reimbursement

• Waiting for the Medicare therapy cap exceptions process to expire once again at the end of 2010? Good news: It may hang on for another two years. In mid-Sept 2009, Sen. Max Baucus (D-Mont.) released a summary of legislation that includes a two-year extension of the therapy cap exceptions process, according to PT Bulletin Online. The proposal also includes a one-year fix for the Medicare Physician Fee Schedule's (MPFS) sustainable growth rate (a 0.5 percent increase, as opposed to the 21.5 percent decrease included in the MPFS final rule). In addition, the proposal would extend the 1.00 floor for geographic practice cost indices for two more years. Also of note, the Senate bill bans specialty hospital self-referral and requires "increased transparency on disclosure of financial relationship between physicians and referred professional services," the Bulletin noted