Helpful information from the American Health Lawyers Association 

President Obama Signs Into Law a Temporary Fix
to Physicians' Medicare Reimbursement
By Jeffrey Moore**

On December 19, 2009, President Barack Obama signed the Department of Defense Appropriations Act, 2010 (H.R. 3326), into law, which freezes Medicare physician payments for two months, avoiding a 21% payment cut to physicians' Medicare reimbursement scheduled to go into effect
on January 1, 2010. The House previously approved H.R. 3326 on December 16, 2009, while the United States Senate passed H.R. 3326 on December 19, 2009.

Because the Department of Defense Appropriations Act, 2010, is only a temporary fix to the Medicare physician payment issue, Congress will be forced to address this payment issue in early 2010, as the Medicare physician payment cuts are set to go back into effect on March 1, 2010.

**We would like to thank Jeffrey S. Moore, Esquire (Phelps Dunbar LLP, Tupelo, MS), for providing this email alert, and the Regulation, Accreditation, and Payment Practice Group for sharing this email alert with the Physician Organizations Practice Group.