U.S. Congress Passes COVID-19 Relief Package Including Significant Provisions for Physician Practices On December 22, 2020, President Trump signed into law the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2021, a comprehensive omnibus spending package that funds the federal government through fiscal year 2021, provides a new round of COVID-19 relief and economic stimulus, and imposes new restrictions on...

ISASS Comments on the 2021 Final Outpatient Prospective Payment System/Ambulatory Surgical Center Rule On December 2, 2020, CMS finalized policy changes for the Outpatient Prospective Payment System (OPPS) and Ambulatory Surgical Center (ASC) final rules. In this final rule, CMS indicated they will be eliminating the inpatient only (IPO) list of 1,700 procedures for which...

CMS Provides Update to 2021 Final Physician Fee Schedule Rule On December 27, 2020, CMS finalized updated payment rates under its Medicare Physician Fee Schedule Rule for the 2021 calendar year (CY). These updates were made to reflect the Omnibus COVID-19 Relief Legislation passed by the U.S. Congress on December 27, 2020. Several items were included in...

Congress Considers Legislation to Offset Physician Fee Schedule Budget Neutrality Impacts As physicians continue to battle the worsening COVID-19 pandemic, the last thing they should have to worry about is cuts to their Medicare payments. Unfortunately, without Congressional action before January 1, 2021, that nightmare scenario will become reality. Under current law, CMS is required...