Medicare post-acute care

MedPAC Meets

The Medicare Payment Advisory Commission, which advises Congress on Medicare payment issues, met last week in Washington, D.C. Among the issues on MedPAC’s agenda were: paying for sequential stays in a unified Medicare payment system for post-acute care encouraging Medicare beneficiaries to use higher-quality post-acute care providers using payment policy to ensure appropriate access to and use of hospital emergency department services the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services’ financial alignment demonstration for dual-eligible beneficiaries the effectiveness of the Medicare hospital readmissions reduction program population-based quality measures such as preventable admissions and home and community days Go here, to MedPAC’s [...]

iqtsupport2018-03-05T06:00:23-05:00March 5, 2018|Medicare, Medicare post-acute care, Medicare regulations, MedPAC|

MedPAC Meets

Last week the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission held two days of public meetings in Washington, D.C. During the sessions MedPAC, a non-partisan legislative branch agency that advises Congress on Medicare payment issues, addressed the following subjects: a Medicare Advantage status report a Medicare prescription drug program (Part D) status report hospital inpatient and outpatient payments physician payments ambulatory surgical center, dialysis center, and hospice payments post-acute care facility payments the hospital readmissions reduction program telehealth accountable care organizations Go here to see the issue briefs and presentations used during the meetings.

iqtsupport2018-01-18T06:00:18-05:00January 18, 2018|Accountable Care Organization, ACO, Medicare, Medicare post-acute care, MedPAC|

CMS Nursing Home Program Cuts Hospital Admissions

An experimental Medicare program has helped nursing homes reduce the frequency with which their residents are admitted to hospitals. The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services’ Initiative to Reduce Avoidable Hospitalizations Among Nursing Facility Residents has reduced avoidable hospitalizations among nursing facility residents 17 percent in the program’s three years. 143 nursing homes in seven states participated in the program, which employed third-party vendors, known as enhanced care and coordination providers, to provide education to nursing facility staff. Hospitals, too, can benefit from the program because it may help reduce avoidable hospital readmissions for which they are penalized financially by [...]

iqtsupport2017-11-01T06:00:28-04:00November 1, 2017|Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, Medicare post-acute care|

MedPAC to CMS: Speed Up Move to New Post-Acute Payment System

Medicare should adopt a unified system for post-acute-care payments even earlier than its target date of 2024. Or so the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission told Congress. MedPAC’s idea? Implement such a system by 2021 and phase it in over a three-year transition period, the agency said in its annual report and recommendations to Congress Learn more about what MedPAC recommended and why it recommended it in this McKnight’s Long-Term Care News article. Find MedPAC’s annual report to Congress here.

iqtsupport2017-06-22T06:00:15-04:00June 22, 2017|Medicare post-acute care, MedPAC|

MedPAC Delivers Annual Report to Congress

The Medicare Payment Advisory Commission has issued its annual report and recommendations to Congress. The major issues addressed in the report include: implementing a unified payment system for post-acute care reforming Medicare payment for drugs under Part B redesigning the merit-based incentive payment system (MIPS) and strengthening advanced alternative payment models using premium support for Medicare the relationship between clinician services and other Medicare services payments from drug and device manufacturers to physicians and teaching hospitals in 2015 the medical device industry stand-alone emergency departments hospital and skilled nursing facility use by Medicare beneficiaries who reside in nursing facilities the [...]

iqtsupport2017-06-21T06:00:29-04:00June 21, 2017|Medicare, Medicare post-acute care, MedPAC|

MedPAC Testifies Before Congress

Last week Mark Miller, executive director of the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission, testified before the House Ways and Means Committee’s Health Subcommittee. In his testimony, Miller summarized and explained some of the key points MedPAC made in its March report to Congress, including: why MedPAC believes most post-acute-care payments are too high; why Medicare needs to reduce the incentives for hospitals and doctors to deliver more services; why it recommended no FY 2018 payment increases for long-term acute-care hospitals, ambulatory surgical centers, and skilled nursing facilities and reductions of payments for home health care providers and inpatient rehabilitation facilities; why [...]

iqtsupport2017-05-22T06:00:12-04:00May 22, 2017|hospitals, Medicare, Medicare post-acute care, Medicare regulations, MedPAC|

MedPAC: New Medicare Post-Acute Payment System Needed – Soon

Medicare should implement a unified, site-neutral payment system for post-acute care as soon as 2021, the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission has decided. Current efforts to develop and implement such a system should be accelerated, Congress’s advisors on Medicare payment issues decided. While MedPAC’s recommendations are not binding, they are highly respected by Congress and federal regulators and often find their way into new public policy. MedPAC will present its latest recommendations to Congress in June. For more information about MedPAC’s position on post-acute-care payments, see this article in McKnight’s Long-Term Care News.

iqtsupport2017-04-13T06:00:37-04:00April 13, 2017|Medicare, Medicare post-acute care, MedPAC|