. Recently, the House of Representatives passed the Medicare and Medicaid Extenders Act of 2010 and the Senate voted on it yesterday; as such now it goes to President Obamas desk for his signature. The bill will do away with the 25 percent cut that medical practices were going to face with effect from January 1 in the New Year.
There was jubilation all around as physicians cheered the news that they will not have to wait for the new Congress and Senate members to take their seats prior to determining whether a payment fix would take place. The American Medical Association (AMA) welcomes bipartisan House passage of legislation to stop the Medicare physician payment cut for a year," said the American Medical Association president Cecil B. Wilson, MD, in a statement issued recently. Stopping the steep 25 percent Medicare cut for a year was vital to preserve seniors access to physician care in the New Year. Many physicians made clear that this years roller coaster ride, caused by five delays of this years cut, forced them to make difficult practice changes like limiting the number of Medicare patients they could treat.