Payment Issues for Physicians Being Resolved by CMS

As legislation that delays the scheduled cut to physician payments for 2008 was not signed into law until late in 2007, some Medicare contractors have not yet updated their Web sites to reflect the update physician fee schedule.

According to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), all contractors were instructed to process claims with January 2008 dates of service using the new fees. Further, the new fee schedule should be posted on all contactors’ Web sites by January 11, 2008.

The "Medicare Physician Fee Schedule Look-Up" link on the CMS Web site, which allows users to customize a search, will be updated with the new 2008 fees during the week of January 21, 2008. Carrier-specific public use files are available now on the CMS Web site at www.cms.hhs.gov/PhysicianFeeSched/PFSCSF/list.asp#TopOfPage.