Part B Insider (Multispecialty) Coding Alert

Published on Fri Dec 14, 2012 PDF

The New Year is approaching, but along with good cheer, Part B practices were hoping to see Congressional action to reverse the potentially devastating news that Medicare pay rates are set to drop on Jan. 1. Unfortunately, however, that hasn’t happened yet.

Background: The 2013 Fee Schedule brings the 2013 conversion factor down to $25.0008. "In the absence of Congressional action, an overall reduction of 26.5 percent will be imposed in the conversion factor used to calculate payment for physicians’ services on or after January 1, 2013," the Fee Schedule says.

As most practices are aware, similar cuts have been projected over the past several years, but Congress has always voted to reverse the cuts. Sometimes these votes have taken place before the cuts kicked in, while other years, Congress didn’t vote until the cuts had already taken effect, which meant months of wrangling for reimbursement differences that MACs had to issue.

Keep an eye on the Insider as we follow Congress’s actions throughout the rest of 2012 and into 2013.