March 31, 2021 | less than a minute read

CMS delays payment cuts in anticipation of Congressional action

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Tom Greeson

Partner

Get in touch

Tom Greeson

Partner

Good news for health care providers and suppliers paid by Medicare as CMS announces it will hold claims and not impose payment cuts that were scheduled to be implemented tomorrow, April 1.

A 2% Medicare sequester reduction in Medicare payments was set to go into effect on April 1. Last week, the Senate voted to extend the moratorium until year end, and the House is expected to accept the Senate's version of the moratorium extension when it returns mid-April to delay these cuts until the end of this calendar year.

Congress had earlier delayed the sequester reductions until March 31. This action forestalls those reductions for an additional nine months.

In anticipation of possible Congressional action to extend the 2% sequester reduction suspension, we instructed the Medicare Administrative Contractors (MACs) to hold all claims with dates of service on or after April 1, 2021, for a short period without affecting providers’ cash flow. This will minimize the volume of claims the MACs must reprocess if Congress extends the suspension; the MACs will automatically reprocess any claims paid with the reduction applied if necessary.