On December 15, 2010, President Obama signed into law H.R. 4994, the “Medicare and Medicaid Extenders Act of 2010.” The new law averts a 25% Medicare physician fee schedule cut previously scheduled to take effect January 1, 2011 under the statutory “sustainable growth rate” formula. The law also continues a variety of expiring Medicare provisions and makes other health policy changes, funded primarily through a change in limits on recoveries of excessive tax credits provided to subsidize insurance premiums under the ACA. In addition, on December 18, the President signed into law the “Red Flag Program Clarification Act of 2010,” which is intended to clarify that health care providers and other non-financial businesses are not subject to the Federal Trade Commission’s (FTC) “Red Flag” identity theft rule simply because they extend credit to patients who do not pay for all services at the time services are received. The President also has signed into law H.R. 2941, to reauthorize and enhance Johanna’s Law to increase public awareness and knowledge with respect to gynecologic cancers, and S. 3199, the “Early Hearing Detection and Intervention Act.” More information on these bills is available here.