Legislation Stopping Medicare Payment Cuts Clears Congress

The House and Senate have passed legislation that will prevent Medicare payment cuts by extending the pause on Medicare and PAYGO sequester reductions.

In a 59 to 35 vote on Thursday, the Senate passed legislation that will prevent statutory Medicare payment cuts from taking effect next year. The bill cleared the House earlier this week.

With approval from Congress, President Biden can now sign the bill into law. The law will extend a moratorium on the 2 percent Medicare sequestration until April 2022, then reduce the amount taken from payments to 1 percent for another three months. The law also prevents the statutory Pay-As-You-Go cuts to Medicare, which total 4 percent of Medicare payments, and some of the rate cuts finalized in the Medicare Physician Fee Schedule final rule from November.

Additionally, the law will delay payment cuts for clinical laboratories and postpone the launch of the Radiation Oncology Model, which was slated to start in January.

Source: https://revcycleintelligence.com/news/house-passes-bill-to-avert-medicare-sequester-paygo-cuts