On Thursday, April 15,2010, the President signed H.R. 4851, the Continuing Extension Act of 2010, retroactively reversing the 21.3 percent Medicare physician payment cut that took effect on April 1 and extending 2009 payment rates through date of service  May 31, 2010.
This is only a stopgap measure. Community oncology continues to focus its advocacy efforts on repealing the flawed sustainable growth rate (SGR) formula, which threatens dramatic physician payment cuts year after year. Congressional leadership is aiming to tackle the larger SGR reform issue in May.
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) had instructed contractors to hold physician claims for 10 business days to minimize administrative complications and cash flow disruptions and allow Congress time to retroactively stop the cut before physician payments were affected. Although the payment hold technically expired on Wednesday, April 14, 2010, California’s Medicare contractor, Palmetto, has not paid any claims under the reduced fee schedule.
Palmetto will immediately begin releasing claims for April dates of service. Claims will be processed one to two days at a time, starting with the oldest claims, until all claims that exceed the 14-day payment floor hold are released.
Thank you to all physicians who contacted their members of Congress about this issue. California Senators Feinstein and Boxer voted for the bill, as did all California Democrats in the House of Representatives. All California Republicans voted no, except for Representatives Brian Bilbray (San Diego), Elton Gallegly (Ventura), and George Radanovich (Fresno), who abstained.