Doctors may have to wait a few extra days to get paid for Medicare services they administer, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services announced.
Claims submitted during the first 14 days of 2015 and dated within that time period will be held to allow for the corrections of errors in the 2015 physician fee schedule. Claims submitted during that time but dated in 2014 will be processed normally. Contractors are expected to process the early 2015 claims beginning Jan. 15.
CMS expects minimal impact to physicians, as it is not required to pay clean electronic claims sooner than 14 days under law.
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“I think this will have minimum impact,” American Academy of Family Physicians President Robert Wergin said in an interview. “It does affect your cash flow, but it has happened in the past, particularly around the time with SGR patches.”
Medicare tends to be among the faster payers in general, and the 14-day delay should not create any significant hardship as physicians should be prepared for this, Dr. Wergin added.