On Wednesday President Obama signed into law “The Medicare and Medicaid Extenders Act of 2010” (HR 4994), which will extend current Medicare reimbursement rates until Jan. 1, 2012.

The law prevents the scheduled reduction to the overall rate of physician reimbursement for services provided to Medicare beneficiaries. The conversion factor, one of the key elements of the Medicare payment formula, will remain at $36.87 for 2011.