The House late Thursday passed legislation to reverse the 21-percent Medicare cut through November. Physicians who see Medicare patients will receive a 2.2 percent pay increase, retroactive to June 1, as a result of this temporary fix.

A carbon copy of the Senate bill that passed last week, it will now go to the president to be signed.

Congress’ failure to enact a permanent fix to the Medicare payment formula means a 23 percent cut in December, increasing to nearly 30 percent in January, the AMA reported.

In the meantime, CMS will automatically reprocess the Medicare claims processed since June 18 at the new rate.

“This six month patch is no solution,” said ISMA President Fred Ridge, M.D. “Congress is still toying with this issue and their inability to solve it threatens access to care for all our seniors and military families.”

Dr. Ridge encouraged ISMA members to sign the online Medicare petition that urges Congress to fix Medicare by developing a rational physician payment system.  The national Medicare Meltdown petition campaign has collected more than 100,000 signatures toward a goal of one million. Go here to sign the petition.