1. Senate approves six-month Medicare update
House vote next week, payments to be retroactively adjusted

The U.S. Senate passed legislation today that provides a 2.2 percent Medicare physician payment update for six months in lieu of the scheduled 21.3 percent cut.

Unfortunately, the House of Representatives is not scheduled to hold any floor votes until next Tuesday evening. As a result, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services is instructing its carriers today to lift the hold on processing claims for services provided on or after June 1, and to begin processing them under the law's negative update requirement.

Claims will start to be paid today at the 21 percent lower rate, on a first in/ first out flow basis. Once H.R. 3962 is passed by the House and signed by the President, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services will retroactively adjust any June claims that have been paid.

Colorado Medical Society President Mark Laitos thanked physicians and office staff who have kept the pressure on lawmakers with phone calls, e-mails and by signing petitions. But he stressed that organized medicine must continue to press for a permanent solution to the flawed Medicare payment system.

"These short-term patches are unfair to physicians and patients," Laitos said. "They simply cannot continue."

We will keep you updated as developments occur next week.

2. Report from the AMA Annual Meeting

The Colorado delegation to the AMA Annual Meeting has prepared this report from the five-day meeting that concluded Wednesday. It includes these highlights:

1. A new payment option for Medicare?
2. Jeremy Lazarus, MD, announces candidacy for AMA President
3. CMS Chief Executive elected to AMA Litigation Center

Read more and get a link to the full meeting coverage by clicking here.