In an effort to buy more time for Congress to avoid cuts of 10.6 percent in Medicare payments for doctors, the government is placing holds on physicians' Medicare claims from July 1 - 15. This hold will create a backlog of claims in Medicare's claims processing. Those payments are expected to be processed within two to seven business days after July 15.
 
For physicians with many Medicare patients, this could lead to financial issues.

This article originally appeared in the July 2008 issue of AAKP Public Policy Briefing.