Medicare claims to be held April 1st

The following notice was sent out by CMS on Friday, March 26:

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) is working with Congress, health care providers, and the beneficiary community to avoid disruption in the delivery of health care services and payment of claims for physicians, non-physician practitioners, and other providers of services paid under the Medicare Physician Fee Schedule (MPFS). As you are aware, the Temporary Extension Act of 2010, enacted on March 2, 2010, extended the zero percent (0%) update to the 2010 MPFS through March 31, 2010.

CMS believes Congress is working to avert the negative update that will take effect April1.
Consequently, CMS has instructed its contractors to hold claims containing services paid under the MPFS (including anesthesia services) for the first 10 business days of April. This hold will only affect claims with dates of service April 1, 2010, and forward. In addition, the hold should have minimum impact on provider cash flow because, under the current law, clean electronic claims are not paid any sooner than 14 calendar days (29 for paper claims) after the date of receipt.