While the recently passed legislation that creates a 1-year extension of current Medicare physician payment rates is a step up from the series of shorter-term patches seen during 2010, it is “only 1 step toward a permanent solution to the flawed sustainable growth rate formula that threatens deep Medicare payment cuts and the financial viability of primary care physician practices,” says Roland Goertz, MD, president, American Academy of Family Physicians (AAFP). Read full article.

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Medical societies representing the 50 states and the District of Columbia and 57 national medical specialty societies have requested that the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services use the $200 million from Congress to provide physicians with overdue Medicare reimbursements for payments that they should have received in 2010. The funds come from the Medicare and Medicaid Extenders Act of 2010 that Congress recently passed. Read full article.

An independent physician organization in Massachusetts representing 1,800 doctors and Blue Cross Blue Shield (BCBS) of Massachusetts Inc., signed a multi-year contract that pays physicians with a modified global payment model designed to encourage cost-effective care, not the quantity of the care they deliver to patients. Read full article.

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