Neurosurgery Coding Alert

New legislation ensures that you'll avoid the scheduled 25 percent drop in Medicare pay next year.You won't face the same nail-biting payment woes in 2011 as you did in 2010, thanks to a Senate Finance Committee bill that will freeze Medicare pay at current levels for another 12 months.The House of Representatives passed the Medicare and Medicaid Extenders Act of 2010 on Dec. 9 and the Senate voted on it the day before, moving it to President Obama's desk for signature. The bill will eliminate the 25 percent cut that medical practices were going to face effective January 1.Physicians cheered the news that they won't have to wait for the new Congress and Senate members to take their seats before determining whether a payment fix would take place. "The AMA welcomes bipartisan House passage of legislation to stop the Medicare physician payment cut for one year," said AMA president Cecil [...]