On Monday, January 11, the Secretary of Health and Human Services extended the COVID-19 Public Health Emergency declaration for an additional 90 days.  This will extend the telehealth and other flexibilities and waivers under Medicare and Medicaid until April 21, 2021.

In addition, CMS has recalculated the Medicare Physician Fee Schedule (MPFS) payment rates and conversion factor to reflect the changes made by Congress in the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2021.  The revised conversion factor (CF) for 2021 is $34.89, which represents a 3% decrease to the 2020 CF.  As a reminder, CMS originally proposed an 11% reduction for 2021. NAEC has updated its charts showing the 2021 payment rates for neurology, epilepsy surgery, and evaluation and management services, which can be found here.