Late last week, Congress passed a minibus package as part of the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2024 (H.R. 4366). This bill was signed into law by the President on March 9, 2024, and includes some healthcare extenders through the end of the calendar year. Included in this minibus package is a partial year fix for Medicare physician fee schedule (PFS) conversion factor (CF).

On January 1, 2024, the Medicare PFS was cut by 3.37% for the calendar year. Congress stepped in this year, like they have in years past, but this year they provided only a partial fix. This partial fix does not impact claims for dates of service prior to March 9, 2024. Specifically, the partial fix is effective beginning March 9, 2024, through the end of 2024. In other words, the fix is not retroactive, only prospective from March 9, 2024. 

The final fix that Congress provided was a 1.68% increase to the 3.37% decrease. This offset to the decrease equates to a -1.69% update to the PFS. However, when compared to the 2023 CF, you would see a final cut of 1.77%. This results in a final cut of 1.77% for the remaining 10 months of the year. To annualize, Congress has delivered a final cut for 2024 of approximately 2.00% (i.e., January 1-March 8 with a cut of 3.37% and about ten months, March 9-December 31, of 1.77%). 

While this is only a partial fix, it is a starting place for future discussions addressing Medicare’s lack of inflationary updates. This partial year fix will expire at the end of 2024.

For more information on the partial year fix, check out our latest episode of Zotec Answers.