Contents tagged with american hospital association
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Congress averts fiscal cliff, staves off Medicare physician pay cut
Once again waiting until the last minute, Congress passed a bill on New Year’s Day that averts the fiscal cliff, delays sequestration provisions for two months, and staves off the 26.5 percent cut in Medicare physician pay for another year.
The fiscal cliff agreement increases revenue largely by targeting married couples earning more than $450,000 a year and single people earning more than $400,000 a year by raising rates for wages and investment profits, but shields those earning less than $250,000 a year from income tax increases, the Washington Post reports.
As TAFP reported in the weeks leading up to this agreement, Congress had to find roughly $30 billion to pay for a one-year patch to the sustainable growth rate formula and considered reversing the Medicaid primary care bonus to offset the cost. Modern Healthcare reports (free registration required) that cuts will come from other Medicare programs, most of which affect hospitals, pharmacies, and dialysis clinics. The primary care bonus appears to be intact.
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