In case you haven’t heard, two recent legislative changes have been passed that will affect you as a chiropractor:

Because these changes (or non-changes) happen quickly, I typically alert chiropractors of these via my Twitter page. But for a change of pace and because I know 14, 238 of you reading this are NOT following me on Twitter I thought it might be useful here as well.

(BTW: If you are on Twitter, no worries. I won’t send you tweets about what a great lunch I am eating or give you my reaction to the latest celebrity gossip in 140 characters or less.  If you are not on Twitter, it’s a quick way to stay updated on changes in chiropractic that you need to know. Plus, as a special bonus, you can re-tweet them (sort of like an email forward without the bad jokes) to friends and impress them with you ability to stay in the know on current events!)

So, here’s the news:

Medicare Fee Decrease

The long-anticipated (dreaded?) 21% Medicare fee decrease is scheduled to go into effect June 1, 2010.  While hopes have been high for a delay, no final Congressional action has yet been taken.

Medicare recently released a notice indicating that they would hold claims for the first ten business days of June to provide Congress with additional time to consider this issue.

Chiropractors should be aware that this hold will only affect claims with dates of service June 1, 2010, and forward.

Claims paid prior to June 1 should still be paid at the zero percent (0%) fee increase proposed by other recent legislative activity.  Translation: claims paid with dates of service Jan 1 through May 31 will be paid at the same fee schedule as your 2009 rates.

Red Flag Rules Delayed

Again, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has delayed implementation of the Red Flags Rule. The next date is set for January 1, 2011.  Although it has been a subject of much debate whether this ruling even applies to chiropractors, no worries – you still have time.  Meanwhile, Congress intends to determine the scope of entities who are covered by the rule. We will just have to wait and see how that turns out.

Hope you had a great holiday weekend!

I will be back next week with my usual fare of musings on all things related to the business of chiropractic.

Tom

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