In This E-Alert:

- Notable ATRA Provisions

- Medicare Extensions

- Other Health Provisions

- Other Health Extensions

- Excerpt from Notable ATRA Provisions:

Medicare Physician Payment Update Among the most significant provisions in the ATRA is the extension of the 2012 Medicare Physician Fee Schedule (MPFS) payment rates, widely referred to as the “doc fix.” This extension prevents substantial cuts to Medicare payments to physicians by allowing the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) to continue paying the 2012 payment rates through 2013. Absent such a fix, payments to physicians and other practitioners would have been reduced by 26.5% during calendar year 2013. Although physicians and practitioners were relieved that cuts were avoided, the rates have not been increased for two consecutive years. To offset the ATRA’s $25 billion MPFS extension, Medicare payments to numerous other health care providers were cut by nearly $30 billion, $14 billion of which are hospital payments.