Medicaid Budget: With both the Senate and House budget proposals in place, the General Assembly has begun the process of reaching an agreement on the final budget for 2010-11. Conferees working on the Health and Human Services Budget have recognized that both versions of the budget include an $18.6 million unauthorized reduction in Medicaid payments to physicians and other health care providers.
The NCMS and other state medical societies were asked this week to continue seeking signatures for the Stop the Medicare Meltdown petition led by the Texas Medical Association (TMA). The campaign would be extended through the August Congressional recess, as lawmakers continue to apply only temporary fixes to delay the scheduled cuts to Medicare physician payments.
The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2010, signed into law on March 23rd, implements many changes to the way physicians practice medicine. Efforts to enhance the quality of care and expand reporting requirements for physicians are among the notable changes. Effective 2015, the law will impose a 1.5% penalty on Medicare reimbursement for physicians who do not participate in the Physician Quality Reporting Initiative (PQRI)…
