2% Sequestration Cuts Take a Big Bite Out Of Medicare Reimbursements
2% Sequestration Cuts Take a Big Bite Out Of Medicare Reimbursements
On January 1st of this year, sequestration was supposed to go into effect. However, the U.S. Congress passed P.L. 112-240 “American Tax Relief Act of 2013″ (aka fiscal cliff) delaying the start of sequestration until March 1st.
How will sequestration affect healthcare?
- Physicians who see Medicare patients will see an automatic 2% reduction in their reimbursement beginning April 1st
- Claims for DME (durable medical equipment), including claims under DME Competitive Bidding program will be reduced by 2%
- Medicare’s payment to beneficiaries for unassigned claims are subject to the 2% reduction
- All services and programs within Medicare (all provider services, hospitals, Medicare Advantage plans, graduate medical education) will see a 2% reduction
- EMR “meaningful use” incentive payments to be cut by 2%
SLICED – Below you will find several examples of how sequestration will slice State Health Departments budgets:
California – $2,621,000 cut from public health programs
Texas – $2,402,000 cut from public health programs
Georgia – $925,000 cut from public health programs
Florida – $1,796,000 cut from public health programs
New York – $1,070,000 cut from public health programs
A total of $28,455,000 will be cut from public state health programs.
Source: http://www.whitehouse.gov/issues/sequester/
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