MedPAC

MedPAC Offers Provider Rate Recommendations for FY 2018

The Medicare Payment Advisory Commission has submitted its annual Medicare payment rate recommendations to Congress. The recommendations, required by law, include: rate increases as required by current law for hospital inpatient payments, hospital outpatient payments, physicians, other health professional services, and outpatient dialysis payments; no updates for ambulatory surgical centers, skilled nursing facilities, long-term-care hospitals, and hospices; and five percent rate reductions for home health agencies and inpatient rehabilitation facilities. MedPAC continued its past practice of recommending reform of the manner in which Medicare pays for post-acute-care services, maintaining that the unified payment system it has proposed would save $30 [...]

iqtsupport2017-03-22T06:00:14-04:00March 22, 2017|Medicare, MedPAC|

MedPAC Discusses Post-Acute Payment Issues

At their public meeting last week, members of the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission discussed two important issues involving how Medicare pays for post-acute-care services. First, MedPAC members suggested that implementation of a new, unified, site-neutral payment system for post-acute care, mandated by the 2014 Improving Medicare Post-Acute Care Transformation Act (IMPACT), could be completed well before the legislation’s target date of 2024. Commissioners discussed the possibility of Medicare introducing such a new system, perhaps by phasing it in over a period of years, beginning in 2021. MedPAC commissioners also discussed recommending to Congress that it reduce Medicare payments for post-acute-care [...]

iqtsupport2017-03-09T06:00:15-05:00March 9, 2017|Medicare, MedPAC|

MedPAC Meets, Discusses Issues

Members of the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission met for two days last week in Washington, D.C. to discuss a number of policy issues important to health care providers. Among those issues were: a unified payment system for post-acute care hospital and skilled nursing facility use by Medicare beneficiaries who reside in nursing homes refining merit-based incentive payment systems (MIPS) and Advanced Alternative Payment Systems (A-APMs) to encourage primary care Go here to see the issue briefs and presentations used to guide MedPAC commissioners’ deliberations.

iqtsupport2017-03-06T09:50:19-05:00March 6, 2017|Medicare, MedPAC|

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 McKnight’s Long-Term Care News.

iqtsupport2017-01-20T13:00:41-05:00January 20, 2017|MedPAC|

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 for changes in Medicare provider reimbursement in this article on [...]

iqtsupport2017-01-20T06:00:18-05:00January 20, 2017|Medicare, MedPAC|

MedPAC Meets

Last week the independent agency that advises Congress on Medicare payment issues met for two days in Washington, D.C. Among the issues on the agenda of the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission were: payments for hospital inpatient and outpatient services, ambulatory surgery centers, dialysis facilities, and hospice care payments for post-acute-care providers a unified payment system for post-acute-care services Medicare Advantage Medicare Part B and Part D payments Medicare-covered primary care services implementation of the Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act of 2015 Go here for links to the issue briefs and presentations used at the MedPAC meeting and for a [...]

iqtsupport2017-01-19T06:00:38-05:00January 19, 2017|hospitals, Medicare, Medicare regulations, MedPAC|