We have tried to keep everyone in the community current on the ins and outs of the patch to the 21.2% Medicare fee cut via emails and posts on the COA website. We understand that there is a great deal of confusion about this situation and serious concern about the 21.2% cut.

Yesterday, the Senate and House passed a bill that contained, among other provisions, extensions to expired unemployment benefits and to the patch to the Medicare Sustainable Growth Rate (SGR). This bill was signed into law last night by the President. This means that the 21.2% Medicare fee cut is averted until June 1st.

We hope that the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) will issue additional guidance on how claims dated April 1st and after will be handled. Given that CMS released guidance that claims would be paid at the reduced rate (reflecting the 21.2% cut) pending testing of systems, we suspect (but do not hold us to this) that not many, if any, claims were processed.

It was a political battle to get this temporary patch passed as law. We will explain in more detail in subsequent communications; however, we are very concerned about what happens next. It is all about politics and seniors covered by Medicare and their medical providers are being held hostage to politics.