CMS on Wednesday told Medicare administrative contractors not to process claims for care given on or after April 1, delaying some payments to providers.
Although a congressional bill to end a 2% cut to all Medicare payments for the rest of the year is expected to pass the House later in April, the change is slated to go into effect on Thursday. The Senate approved the bill last week.
If Congress ends the freeze on Medicare payment cuts, Medicare administrative contractors will reprocess paid claims automatically at the reduced rate.
"Glad they heeded my call. The House must move swiftly on my bill (with Sen. Susan Collins) to fix this ASAP," tweeted Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH).
The 2% cuts originally took effect in 2013 but were Congress paused them last year in response to the COVID-19 pandemic and its impact on providers' finances.
The cuts totaling $18 billion were scheduled to resume this week without congressional action. But providers lobbied hard for an extension of the moratorium, arguing the pandemic continues to hurt their bottom lines.
