Docs petition for overdue payments

Medical societies representing the 50 states and the District of Columbia and 57 national medical specialty societies have requested that the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services use the $200 million from Congress to provide physicians with overdue Medicare reimbursements for payments that they should have received in 2010. The funds come from the Medicare and Medicaid Extenders Act of 2010 that Congress recently passed.

The organizations wrote a letter to the secretary of Health and Human Services, citing the changes from the Affordable Care Act (ACA) and corrections in the final 2010 physician fee schedule rule. In the letter, they summarized the six provisions in the ACA, which state that physicians are to be reimbursed at new payment levels.