Medicare post-acute care

MedPAC Offers Recommendations on FY 2020 Rates, More

Last week the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission released its annual report to Congress. Included in this report are MedPAC’s Medicare rate recommendations for the coming year. They are: hospital inpatient rates – a two percent increase hospital outpatient rates – a two percent increase physician and other health professional services rates – no update skilled nursing facilities – no 2020 increase home health agencies – a five percent rate reduction inpatient rehabilitation facilities – a five percent rate reduction long-term-care hospital services – a two percent increase hospice services – a two percent rate reduction MedPAC also recommended that the [...]

iqtsupport2019-03-19T06:00:37-04:00March 19, 2019|Medicare, Medicare post-acute care, Medicare reimbursement policy, MedPAC, Uncategorized|

MedPAC Debates Post-Acute Payments

As the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services continues to develop a unified payment system for all post-acute-care providers, Congress’s advisors on Medicare payment policy appear ready to weigh in on an important aspect of such a system: Whether payments should be based on entire episodes of care or individual stays in post-acute-care facilities. And at least for now, the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission is leaning toward recommending that post-acute-care payments be based on individual stays. At their March public meeting, MedPAC commissioners expressed concern that post-acute-care payments based on entire episodes of care might create financial incentives for providers [...]

iqtsupport2019-03-13T14:55:27-04:00March 13, 2019|Medicare post-acute care, MedPAC|

MedPAC Meets

Last week the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission met in Washington, D.C. to discuss a number of Medicare payment issues. The issues on MedPAC’s March agenda were: two Medicare payment strategies to improve price competition and value for Part B drugs: reference pricing and binding arbitration options for slowing the growth of Medicare fee-for-service spending for emergency department service. Medicare’s role in the supply of primary care physicians evaluating an episode-based payment system for post-acute care mandated report: changes in post-acute and hospice care following the implementation of the long-term care hospital dual payment rate structure MedPAC is an independent congressional [...]

iqtsupport2019-03-12T06:00:49-04:00March 12, 2019|Medicare, Medicare post-acute care, Medicare reimbursement policy, MedPAC, post-acute care|

MedPAC Meets

Last week the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission met in Washington, D.C. to discuss a number of Medicare payment issues. The issues on MedPAC’s December agenda were: The Medicare prescription drug program (Part D) Opioids and alternatives in hospital settings: payments, incentives, and Medicare data Hospital inpatient and outpatient services payments Redesigning Medicare’s hospital quality incentive programs Physicians and other health professional services payments Medicare payment policies for advanced practice registered nurses and physician assistants Ambulatory surgical centers and hospice payments Skilled nursing facilities, home health agency, and inpatient rehabilitation facilities payments Long-term care hospital services payments Outpatient dialysis payments Future [...]

iqtsupport2019-01-24T06:00:53-05:00January 24, 2019|Alternative payment models, hospitals, Medicare, Medicare post-acute care, MedPAC|

For Nursing Homes, Medicare Giveth and Medicare Taketh Away

Nearly 4000 skilled nursing facilities will receive bonuses from Medicare this year while nearly 11,000 will be penalized under Medicare’s Skilled Nursing Facility Value-Based Purchasing Program. The program, created in 2014, rewards nursing homes that keep low the number of patients who must be admitted to hospitals during the year and penalizes those with the highest hospital admission rates. Successful nursing homes will receive bonuses of as much as 1.6 percent for each Medicare patient they serve while those that had too many hospital admissions will face penalties of nearly two percent for all of their Medicare patients. On the [...]

iqtsupport2018-12-12T06:00:03-05:00December 12, 2018|Medicare, Medicare post-acute care, Medicare regulations, Medicare reimbursement policy|

MedPAC Meets

Last week the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission met in Washington, D.C. to discuss a number of Medicare payment issues. The issues on MedPAC’s November agenda were: MedPAC’s mandated report on long-term care hospitals patient functional assessment data used in Medicare payment and quality measurement modifying advanced alternative payment model (A-APM) payments modifying the Medicare-dependent hospital program promoting greater Medicare-Medicaid integration in dual-eligible special-needs plans the Medicare Advantage quality bonus program Medicare Advantage encounter data MedPAC is an independent congressional agency that advises Congress on issues involving the Medicare program. While its recommendations are not binding on either Congress or the [...]

iqtsupport2018-11-06T06:00:50-05:00November 6, 2018|Medicare, Medicare post-acute care, Medicare reimbursement policy, MedPAC|

MedPAC Meets

Last week the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission met in Washington, D.C. to discuss a number of Medicare payment issues. The issues on MedPAC’s October agenda were: managing prescription opioid use in Medicare Part D opioids and alternatives in hospital settings: payments, incentives, and Medicare data Medicare payment policies for advanced practice registered nurses and physicians Medicare’s role in the supply of primary care physicians Medicare payments for services provided in inpatient psychiatric facilities episode-based payments and outcome measures under a unified payment system for post-acute care Medicare policy issues related to non-urgent and emergency care MedPAC is an independent congressional [...]

iqtsupport2018-10-11T06:00:51-04:00October 11, 2018|Medicare, Medicare post-acute care, Medicare regulations, Medicare reimbursement policy, MedPAC, post-acute care|

CMS: More Medicare Site-Neutral Payments Coming

The federal government is unlikely to stop with outpatient visits in its drive to make more Medicare payments on a site-neutral basis. That was the message Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services administrator Seema Verma delivered at a public event last week. We are taking a look at [site-neutral payments] across the board and looking at our authority and where we can weigh in on it. But I think the post-acute space is something where there are a lot of differentials in payments and something we’re very interested in exploring. CMS recently proposed extending its use of site-neutral payments for [...]

iqtsupport2018-10-10T06:00:53-04:00October 10, 2018|Medicare, Medicare post-acute care, Medicare regulations, Medicare reimbursement policy, MedPAC|

Nursing Home Occupancy Declines

Nursing home occupancy fell to 81.7 percent during the second quarter of 2018, according to the National Investment Center for Seniors House & Care. Among the reasons for this decline in the use of skilled nursing facilities are policy changes that seek to shorten length of stay and competition from home health services and assisted living facilities. Occupancy among seniors enrolled in Medicare Advantage plans has been flat, with those living in urban areas more than twice as likely to spend time in skilled nursing facilities than those who reside in rural areas. Learn more about this latest trend in [...]

iqtsupport2018-09-26T06:00:39-04:00September 26, 2018|Medicare post-acute care|

MedPAC Meets

The Medicare Payment Advisory Commission met last week in Washington, D.C. to address a number of Medicare reimbursement-related issues. Among the subjects on MedPAC’s agenda were: a unified payment system for post-acute care long-term-care hospitals physician payments next steps in redesigning Medicare’s hospital quality and value programs While MedPAC’s policy and payment recommendations are not binding on Congress or the administration, its views are respected and influential and often become the basis for new public policy. Go here to see the policy briefs and presentations offered to help guide MedPAC commissioners’ discussions about these and other issues.

iqtsupport2018-09-13T06:00:56-04:00September 13, 2018|Medicare, Medicare post-acute care, MedPAC|