On January 2, 2013, President Obama signed into law (via autopen) the “fiscal cliff” deal, H.R. 8, the American Taxpayer Relief Act of 2012 (ATRA). In addition to making well-publicized changes to the tax code, the new law includes numerous Medicare payment provisions. Most notably, the law includes a one-year Medicare physician fee schedule (MPFS) fix that is paid for by approximately $30 billion in other health care (mainly Medicare) spending reductions over 10 years. ATRA also delays until March 2013 the automatic, across-the-board “sequestration” cuts in federal spending imposed by the Budget Control Act of 2011, which was expected to reduce Medicare provider payments by more than $11 billion in fiscal year (FY) 2013 and $123 billion over the period of FY 2013 to 2021 (CBO subsequently estimated  that the 2013 cut to Medicare payments now will be approximately $9.9 billion due to changes in the sequestration targets under the ATRA). The delay in sequestration, coupled with the government again reaching its debt ceiling, sets up another near-term battle on federal spending, during which Medicare, Medicaid, and other health care programs could be targeted for even more significant cuts. The health provisions of ATRA are summarized in our Client Alert.