Congress Approves Medicare, Medicaid Changes
July 18, 2008
In what is becoming an annual ritual, Congress on July 15, 2008, approved legislation (H.R.6331) that reverses a 10.6 percent reduction in Medicare payments to physicians. This year’s process, however, was more exciting and unpredictable than most, because Congress approved the measure over a presidential veto. In addition to the physician payment relief, the legislation also makes various other changes that provide payment and regulatory relief to dozens of other Medicare and Medicaid stakeholders, including medical equipment suppliers, clinical laboratories, hospitals, therapy providers and dialysis facilities. As the name would suggest, the Medicare Improvements for Patients and Providers Act of 2008 (the Act) is mostly good news for program beneficiaries and health care service providers, but less welcomed by managed care organizations, which were forced to bear much of the cost of the physician payment bail-out. This White Paper provides an overview of the most significant Medicare- and Medicaid-related provisions in the Act.
Please click here to view the entire White Paper in Adobe PDF format.
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