‘Doc Fix’ Could Get Fast Action

BALTIMORE — CMS is in the process of implementing a
temporary pay freeze for Medicare physicians.

After the House voted in favor of the freeze Dec. 16, the Senate
followed, passing the measure as part of a Defense Department
spending bill Dec. 19. President Obama signed it into law shortly
thereafter.

The legislation freezes Medicare physician payments for two
months — until Feb. 28, 2010 — in order to avoid a 21
percent cut that had been scheduled for Jan. 1.

Physician groups including the American Medical Association said
the stopgap measure was needed to preserve access to care for
beneficiaries, but they’re looking for a permanent fix to the
reimbursement formula that triggered the deep cut.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., has said the Senate
will begin work on a permanent solution in early 2010; the House passed such a
bill in November. Reid stripped a one-year patch for the
payment formula out of the Senate’s massive health reform bill
before its passage on Christmas Eve. That means Congress must act
fast on the issue because there will be no provision in place to
stop the pay cut after the end of February.

That also means the HME industry must act quickly in getting
more legislators signed on to H.R.
3790, the bill that would stop competitive bidding.

According to the American Association for Homecare’s Walt
Gorski, vice president, government relations, that bill’s best
chances may lie in piggybacking on one of two other measures: the
so-called “doc fix” bill, or a technical corrections bill that will
be necessary to correct unintended consequences in the final
version of health reform.

Introduced in October by Rep. Kendrick Meek, D-Fla., H.R. 3790
would eliminate competitive
bidding, which could put as many as 90 percent of providers in
the first nine MSAs out of the Medicare business. The bid window
for the Round 1 rebid closed Dec. 21, and the program is currently
set to go live on Jan. 1, 2011.

Before Congress’ holiday recess, the Meek bill had garnered 118
cosponsors. But in order to gain congressional attention —
and action — 218 are needed.

During a Dec. 21 teleconference, Gorski also pointed out that
for H.R. 3790 “obviously there is the opportunity to do it as a
stand-alone piece of legislation, but we will clearly work with
[Rep.] Meek on this issue.”

The association has designated the week of Jan. 4 as “Meek
Week” and is encouraging HME advocates to set meetings with
their federal representatives to ask for support of H.R. 3790.