Medicare Payment Delay

Date:   09/01/2006

Physicians should be aware Medicare will not pay any claims for the last nine days of the federal fiscal year (September 22-30, 2006). This one-time payment hold -- mandated by the Deficit Reduction Act of 2006 -- will defer $1.3 billion in FY 2006 claims to the FY 2007 budget.

Held claims will be paid on October 2. No interest or late-payment penalty will be paid to physicians or other health care providers whose payments are delayed by this one-time hold. Physicians with large numbers of Medicare patients should prepare now for this cash flow interruption.

Provider Action:

For more information, please view the MLN Matters Article at:
http://www.cms.hhs.gov/MLNMattersArticles/downloads/MM5047.pdf