Bulletin Board
Bulletin Board
VBP No Boon for Patients
Medicare efforts to use value-based purchasing to foster improvement in the quality of hospital care has not improved the quality of patients’ experience in those hospitals, according to a new study. Addressing the quality of patients’ experience in the hospital, the Health Affairs study “Patient Hospital Experience Improved Modestly, But No Evidence Medicare Incentives Promoted Meaningful Gains” concluded about Medicare’s value-based purchasing efforts that While certain subsets of hospitals improved more than others, we found no evidence that the program has had a beneficial effect. See the study here.
Health Centers Rise to Medicaid Challenge
The nation’s federally funded health centers responded to the Affordable Care Act by serving more Medicaid patients than ever and improving the quality of care they provide. According to a new study published in the journal Health Affairs, Medicaid expansion was associated with improved quality on four of eight measures examined: asthma treatment, Pap testing, body mass index assessment, and hypertension control. Learn more about how Medicaid expansion affected federally funded health centers and how those centers responded to that expansion in the study “At Federally Funded Health Centers, Medicaid [...]
MedPAC: No Rate Increases for Nursing Homes
As it has since 2008, the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission has voted to recommend no pay increase or even market basket increase for Medicare payments to skilled nursing facilities. According to MedPAC, Medicare payments for nursing home care remain too high. MedPAC also voted to recommend no market basket increases for long-term-care hospitals and hospices and for a pay reduction for inpatient rehabilitation facilities. MedPAC will formally submit its recommendations to Congress in March. To learn more about MedPAC’s thoughts on Medicare reimbursement for post-acute-care services, see this article in [...]
MedPAC: Small Pay Raise for Hospital Inpatient, Outpatient Services
The independent agency that advises Congress on Medicare payment matters has recommended modest increases in Medicare payments for hospital inpatient and outpatient services in FY 2018. The Medicare Payment Advisory Commission voted in support of a market basket increase of approximately 1.85 percent for Medicare outpatient and inpatient services in FY 2018. MedPAC also voted to recommend a 0.5 percent increase in payments to physicians but no increase for ambulatory surgery centers. MedPAC will formally submit its recommendations to Congress in March. Learn more about these and other MedPAC recommendations [...]
Implications of ACA Repeal for Medicaid
How might repeal of the Affordable Care Act affect Medicaid? Medicaid beneficiaries? States and providers? These issues and more are considered in the new Commonwealth Fund report “Medicaid’s Future: What Might ACA Repeal Mean?” Find it here.