Per a CMS official, received as of 15 minutes ago:

“I did find out this morning that the fees are not frozen from 2009, as I suspected. The update factor is 0%, but any legislative or regulatory change that affects payment went into effect on 1/1/2010 as scheduled. Thus, the fees for 2010 service dates will likely be different than in 2009. Medicare contractor websites will have the new fees for 2010 posted NO LATER than 2 weeks from 12/23/09, or around JANUARY 6. On the TrailBlazer website, look to be sure that the fees are from “file creation date 12/23/09″ or later. The old fees created on 12/9/09 are currently posted.”

So this means that carriers will have to post the new fees this week. Some carriers have already done so and some have not. For those holding claims for January 1 and later — we have time to get the new allowed amounts into our systems.

To find out the fees for your area, be sure to visit your local Medicare carrier’s site.  List can be found here.