The last 2 years this has been waived by Congress at the last minute sessions at the end of the year and who knows what may happen between now and then, but the difference this year is the Quality Reporting Initiative that has not been present the last couple of years.  BD

Physicians would miss out on the chance to see their Medicare payment cuts shaved by two percentage points next year under a Bush administration proposal that opts against using a special reserve fund to lessen the reimbursement hit.

The proposed Medicare payment rule issued July 2 by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services projects that next year's across-the-board physician cut will be 9.9%, the same as the previous estimate. The rule also announced for the first time that a $1.35 billion reserve fund Congress set aside last year to address physician payment and quality of care will not go toward decreasing that percentage.

So instead of reducing the 9.9% cut to about 7.9% for all physicians, CMS will use the additional money to pay an estimated bonus of less than 2% to doctors who participate in the Physician Quality Reporting Initiative when the agency renews it next year. The PQRI launched July 1, and its initial phase runs for the last six months of 2007. Physicians who are participating this year are eligible for a 1.5% bonus -- payable in the middle of 2008 -- on all of their Medicare claims during that 2007 time period.

AMNews: July 23/30, 2007. CMS won't tap reserve fund to ease Medicare physician pay cuts; money marked for reporting bonuses ... American Medical News

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