As happens every year, Congress stepped in at the last minute and blocked the Sustainable Growth Rate (SGR) cuts in Medicare payments to physicians.  On the afternoon of January 1, 2013, the House of Representatives adopted legislation passed earlier that day by the Senate, the "American Taxpayer Relief Act of 2012.” The bill prevented a plunge over the “fiscal cliff” by postponing across-the-board spending reductions and also overrode the 26.5 percent Medicare fee schedule cut that technically had already gone into effect on the morning of passage.   Congress’ action replaced the SGR reduction with a zero percent update for services provided from January 1, 2013, through December 31, 2013. Because of adjustments in the practice expense component of the anesthesia conversion factor (CF), the 2013 national average CF is $0.50 higher than last year’s CF, i.e., $21.9243.  This is 38 percent higher than the $15.93 CF announced in November 2012.   Actual...