MedPAC

MedPAC Meets

The agency that advises Congress on Medicare payment issues met in Washington, D.C. last week. At that meeting, members of the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission discussed a number of Medicare payment issues, including: refining an alternative to the merit-based incentive payment system (MIPS) improving incentives in the emergency debarment payment system rebalancing the physician fee schedule towards primary care increasing the equity of payments within each post-acute-care setting principles for evaluating the expansion of Medicare’s coverage of telehealth services Find the issue briefs and presentations used during the meeting to guide these discussions here, on MedPAC’s web site.

iqtsupport2017-11-07T06:00:47-05:00November 7, 2017|MedPAC|

MedPAC Meets

The independent agency that advises Congress and the administration on Medicare payment policies met last week in Washington, D.C. Among the issues discussed at the meeting of the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission were: the merit-based incentive payment system a unified payment system for post-acute care telehealth a redesign of Medicare’s hospital value incentive program Find the presentations and issue briefs for these subjects and others discussed at the MedPAC meeting here, on MedPAC’s web site.

iqtsupport2017-10-11T06:00:23-04:00October 11, 2017|Medicare, MedPAC|

MedPAC Meets

Members of the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission met last week in Washington, D.C. Among the issues they discussed during their two days of meetings were Medicare coverage policy, Medicare coverage of telehealth services, pharmacy benefit managers and specialty pharmacies, and physician supervision requirements in critical access and small rural hospitals. Go here to see the issue briefs and presentations that were discussed during the meeting.

iqtsupport2017-09-13T06:00:10-04:00September 13, 2017|Medicare, MedPAC|

MedPAC Comments on Proposed Physician Fee Schedule

The Medicare Payment Advisory Commission has written to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services to convey its views on CMS’s proposed revisions to Medicare physician payment policies for 2018. Among the issues MedPAC addresses in its comment letter are proposed payments to physicians for nonexcepted items and services provided in nonexcepted off-campus provider-based hospital departments, the Medicare shared savings program, and the Medicare diabetes prevention program. See CMS’s comment letter here.

iqtsupport2017-09-12T06:00:52-04:00September 12, 2017|Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, Medicare, Medicare regulations, MedPAC|

MedPAC Comments on Proposed Medicare Outpatient Payment Rule

The Medicare Payment Advisory Commission has weighed in with the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services on its proposed regulation governing the 2018 hospital outpatient prospective payment system and ambulatory surgical center payment systems and quality reporting programs. Among the issues MedPAC addresses in its comment letter to CMS are the proposal to reduce Medicare reimbursement for 340B-covered prescription drugs; how to reinvest the savings such a payment cut would produce; the ability of hospitals to expand the services they offer at hospital-based outpatient departments; proposed changes in the Medicare hospital outpatient quality reporting program and ambulatory surgery center quality [...]

iqtsupport2017-09-11T09:59:57-04:00September 11, 2017|Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, hospitals, Medicare regulations, MedPAC|

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|

MedPAC Meets

The Medicare Payment Advisory Committee met last week in Washington, D.C. On the MedPAC agenda were the following issues: Part B drug payment policy issues using premium support in Medicare implementing a unified payment system for post-acute care an overview of the medical device industry regional variation in Medicare Part A, Part B, and Part D spending and service use measuring low-value care in Medicare payment and plan incentives in Part D the role of Medicare policy in provider consolidation Find the issue briefs and presentations that supported MedPAC commissioners’ discussion of these issues here and find a transcript of [...]

iqtsupport2017-04-12T11:49:58-04:00April 12, 2017|Medicare, MedPAC|