CMS Instructs Contractors to Hold Claims for First 10 Business Days of June

As Congress works to avert the negative update to the 2010 Medicare Physician Fee Schedule (MPFS) that is scheduled to take effect June 1, 2010, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has instructed its contractors to hold claims containing services paid under the MPFS (including anesthesia services) for the first 10 business days of June. This hold will only affect MPFS claims with dates of service June 1, 2010, and later.

This hold should have minimum impact on provider cash flow because, under the current law, clean electronic claims are not paid any sooner than 14 calendar days (29 for paper claims) after the date of receipt.