3.15.2010 An unexpected drop in state tax collections has created a mid-year budget deficit that could be as high as $400 million, complicating an already dismal state financial picture as lawmakers prepare for the start of their annual session in two weeks. Read the entire article by Jan Moller with The Times-Picayune on www.nola.com. |
3.11.2010 WASHINGTON - The Senate passed, by a vote of 62 to 36, legislation postponing the 21 percent cut to the physician fee schedule until September 30, 2010. The legislation freezes Medicare payments at their current rates. The Senate legislation amended legislation passed by the House on December 9, 2009, and this bill must now go back to the House for a vote before it can be sent to the President for signing. This legislation extends the SGR patch that was passed by Congress last week, the Temporary Extension Act of 2010, which postponed the SGR cut to the Medicare Physician Fee Schedule through March 31, 2010. Read the entire story at ModernHealthcare.com. |
2.18.2010 Physicians have until March 17 to change their Medicare participation or nonparticipation status for this year, meaning that doctors who have not already changed their status still can do so and those who made a change can still retract it. Because the decision would be retroactive, those who switch from "nonparticipation" to "participation" would have to refund any balance billing collected from their patients between Jan. 1 and their new decision date. To help ensure that physicians are making informed decisions about their contractual relationships with the Medicare program, the AMA has developed a document that explains the current situation with respect to Medicare payment updates for 2010 and the various participation options that are available to physicians. The purpose of the document is to ensure that physicians are fully aware of the Medicare participation options they have, and the AMA does not advise or recommend any one of the three options described there. Visit http://www.ama-assn.org/ama1/pub/upload/mm/399/med-par-options.pdf to view the document. |
2.10.2010 Caroline Abreu will never take her health for granted. The Natchitoches resident has been receiving medication since 2006 from the Cenla Medication Access Program, a Rapides Foundation initiative. Starting with covering the nine Central Louisiana parishes served by the Rapides Foundation, based in Alexandria, the program expanded by 30 parishes in 2008 after forming a partnership with the Louisiana Bureau of Primary Care and Rural Health. In November, CMAP started covering the entire state. Read the entire article by Jeff Matthews with The Town Talk (Alexandria). |
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