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On December 23, 2011, President Obama signed into law the Temporary Payroll Tax Cut Continuation Act of 2011 (TPTCCA). This law prevents a scheduled payment cut for physicians and other practitioners who treat Medicare patients from taking effect.  The 2012 Medicare Physician Fee Schedule is now scheduled to take effect on March 1, 2012. President Obama has made it clear that he opposes this cut from taking place. As he has repeatedly made clear, President Obama is committed to a permanent solution to eliminating the Sustainable Growth Rate’s cut. 

Medicare cost-sharing for Part B services will decline in some cases and, for the first time, the Part B deductible will decrease, by $22, to $140.

Health care professionals will be paid more to provide certain services for people with Medicare. CMS has increased the payment amount for the initial and annual wellness visit, which has no cost sharing for patients, to account for the introduction of health risk assessment (HRA).

The Medicare Part D prescription drug program has also been enhanced for 2012, with the coverage gap being further reduced as it is phased-out over the next several years. These improvements to the drug benefit from the Affordable Care Act have already saved millions of seniors nearly $2 billion.

For physicians and practitioners who want to know about the Primary Care Incentive Program. Again in 2012, primary care physicians, nurse practitioners, clinical nurse specialists and physician assistants may be eligible to receive an incentive payment equal to 10 percent of their allowed charges for primary care services under Medicare Part B. This incentive is paid in addition to any physician incentive payments for services furnished in Health Professional Shortage Areas. Please remember that if a practitioner has reassigned his or her benefits to another entity, such as a group practice, Medicare will pay that entity and not the individual practitioner.

Below please find summaries of key provisions of the TPTCCA along with some information about how these changes may affect providers and provider billing. 

President Obama Signs the Temporary Payroll Tax Cut Continuation Act of 2011
Physician Payment Update
Section 301 of the TPTCCA prevents a payment cut for physicians that would have taken effect on January 1, 2012. An update of zero percent is effective for claims with dates of service January 1, 2012, through February 29, 2012. While the physician fee schedule update will be zero percent, other changes to the relative value units used to calculate the fee schedule rates must be budget neutral. To make those changes budget neutral, the conversion factor must be adjusted for 2012. CMS is currently developing the 2012 Medicare Physician Fee Schedule (MPFS) to implement the zero percent update. As previously advised, Medicare claims administration contractors will be holding new, January 2012 claims for up to 10 business days in order to effectively test and implement the new 2012 MPFS. We expect these claims to be released into processing no later than January 18, 2012. Claims with dates of service prior to January 1, 2012, are unaffected. Finally, Medicare contractors will be posting the new rates on their websites no later than January 11, 2012. 

Extension of Medicare Physician Work Geographic Adjustment Floor
Current law requires payment rates under the MPFS to be adjusted geographically to reflect area differences in the cost of practice. The following three components of the MPFS payment are adjusted:  physician work, practice expense and malpractice expense. Section 303 of the TPTCCA extends the existing 1.0 floor on the physician work geographic practice cost index, through February 29, 2012. As with the physician payment update, this change will be accomplished through a revised 2012 MPFS.

Extension of Physician Fee Schedule Mental Health Add-On Payments
For calendar year 2011, certain mental health services’ payment rates continued to be increased by five percent over what they would otherwise be paid using the standard MPFS payment methodology.  Section 307 of the TPTCCA extends the five percent increase in payments for these mental health services, through February 29, 2012. Similar to the zero percent update and the physician work geographic adjustment floor extension, the five percent increase will be reflected in the revised 2012 MPFS.

Extension of Medicare Modernization Act Section 508 Reclassifications
Section 302 of the TPTCCA extends Section 508 reclassifications and certain special exception wage indexes for two months, from October 1, 2011, through November 30, 2011. For the period beginning on October 1, 2011, and ending on November 30, 2011, section 302 also requires removing Section 508 and special exception wage data from the calculation of the reclassified wage index if doing so raises the reclassified wage index. All hospitals affected by section 302 of the TPTCCA shall be assigned a special wage index effective for only October and November 2011. We will apply the provision to both inpatient and outpatient hospital payments. For hospital outpatient payments, a special exception wage index will be applicable from January 1, 2012, through February 29, 2012.

Extension of Exceptions Process for Medicare Therapy Caps
Section 304 of the TPTCCA extends the exceptions process for outpatient therapy caps. Outpatient therapy service providers may continue to submit claims with HCPCS modifier KX, when an exception is appropriate, for services furnished on or after January 1, 2012, through February 29, 2012.  

The therapy caps are determined on a calendar year basis, so all patients begin a new cap year on January 1, 2012. For physical therapy and speech language pathology services combined, the limit on incurred expenses is $1,880. For occupational therapy services, the limit is $1,880. Deductible and coinsurance amounts applied to therapy services count toward the amount accrued before a cap is reached, and also apply for services above the cap where HCPCS modifier KX is used.    

Extension of Moratorium On Independent Laboratory Billing for the Technical Component (TC) of Physician Pathology Services Furnished to Hospital Patients 
In the final physician fee schedule regulation published in the Federal Register on November 2, 1999, CMS finalized a policy to pay only the hospital for the TC of physician pathology services furnished to hospital patients. Under prior policy, independent laboratories continued to be paid for the technical component of a pathology service provided to a hospital patient. At the request of the industry, to allow those independent laboratories that were separately paid for the technical component of a physician pathology service provided to a hospital patient sufficient time to negotiate new arrangements with hospitals, the implementation of this rule was administratively delayed until 2001. Subsequent legislation formalized a moratorium on the implementation of the rule. 

Although the most recent extension of the moratorium expired at the end of 2011, section 305 of the TPTCCA restores the moratorium through February 29, 2012. Therefore, those independent laboratories that are eligible may continue to submit claims to Medicare for the TC of physician pathology services furnished to patients of a hospital, regardless of the beneficiary’s hospitalization status (inpatient or outpatient) on the date that the service was furnished. This policy is effective for claims with dates of service on or after January 1, 2012, through February 29, 2012.

Extension of Ambulance Add-On Payments
The provisions that were extended by section 306 of the TPTCCA are:

1. The three percent increase in the ambulance fee schedule amounts for covered ground ambulance transports that originate in rural areas and the two percent increase for covered ground ambulance transports that originate in urban areas
2. The provision relating to air ambulance services that considers any area that was designated as a rural area as of December 31, 2006, shall continue to be treated as a rural area for purposes of making payments under the ambulance fee schedule for such air ambulance services
3. The provision relating to payment for ground ambulance services where the base rate of the fee schedule is increased when the ambulance transport originates in an area that is included in those areas comprising the lowest 25^th percentile of all rural populations arrayed by population density

All of these payment provisions are extended through February 29, 2012. As previously advised, Medicare claims administration contractors will be holding new, January 2012 ambulance claims for up to 10 business days in order to effectively implement the new 2012 ambulance fee schedule. We expect these claims to be released into processing no later than January 18, 2012. Claims with dates of service prior to January 1, 2012, are unaffected.

Extension of Outpatient Hold Harmless Provision
Section 308 of the TPTCCA extends the Outpatient Hold Harmless provision, effective for dates of service on and after January 1, 2012, through February 29, 2012, to rural hospitals with 100 or fewer beds and to all sole community hospitals and Essential Access Community Hospitals regardless of bed size. 

Extension of Minimum Payment for Bone Mass Measurement
Section 309 of the TPTCCA extends through February 29, 2012, the 2011 payment rate for bone mass measurement. Similar to the zero percent update and other provisions, this extension will be reflected in the revised 2012 MPFS.

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