Medicare Payment Advisory Commission

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: Medicare payments for physician and other health professionals services payments for ambulatory surgical centers payments for hospital inpatient and outpatient care Medicare’s hospital quality incentive program payments for skilled nursing facilities payments for long-term care hospitals payments for inpatient rehabilitation facilities payments for outpatient dialysis services payments for hospice care payments for home health services the Medicare Advantage program MedPAC is an independent congressional agency that advises Congress on issues involving the Medicare program. [...]

iqtsupport2018-12-11T06:00:45-05:00December 11, 2018|hospitals, Medicare, 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 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|

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|

MedPAC Issues 2018 Report to Congress

The non-partisan legislative branch agency that advises Congress and the administration on Medicare payment policies has submitted its mandatory annual report to Congress. Among the findings included in the report by the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission are: Medicare’s hospital readmissions reduction program has not resulted in increases in emergency room visits or hospital observation stays. Many Medicare accountable care organizations, while maintaining or improving quality, are producing more modest savings than predicted. MedPAC approves of Medicare’s proposals to redesign the case-mix classification system for skilled nursing facilities. MedPAC supports changes Medicare has proposed for patient assessment and therapy requirements for [...]

iqtsupport2018-06-21T10:33:14-04:00June 21, 2018|Accountable Care Organization, ACO, hospitals, Medicaid, Medicare, Medicare post-acute care, Medicare regulations, MedPAC, post-acute care|

MedPAC Mulls Uniform Outcome Measures to Complement Unified Post-Acute Payments

In support of its proposal that Medicare adopt a unified payment system for post-acute-care services, the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission is exploring how to develop uniform outcome measures to support such a new payment system. Under the MedPAC vision, articulated at its early April public meeting, skilled nursing facilities, home health agencies, long-term-care hospitals, and inpatient rehabilitation facilities would see their outcomes quantified based on their performance on a series of quality measures. Meanwhile, there has been little congressional interest in the unified post-acute payment proposal so far. While some aspects of such a proposal could be implemented administratively, the [...]

iqtsupport2018-04-18T06:00:59-04:00April 18, 2018|Medicare, Medicare regulations, MedPAC, post-acute care|

MedPAC to Congress: Cut Payments to Freestanding Emergency Facilities

The Medicare Payment Advisory Commission has urged Congress to reduce Medicare payments to freestanding emergency departments 30 percent. The recommendation, approved by MedPAC earlier this month and to be included in its June report to Congress, notes that such facilities have a lower cost structure because they typically lack some of the equipment, personnel, and standby capabilities of hospital ERs. In making its recommendation, MedPAC also noted that freestanding ERs typically treat patients whose conditions are not as severe as hospital ERs and tend to be located in areas that already have adequate access to hospital ERs. While MedPAC’s recommendations [...]

iqtsupport2018-04-17T13:33:12-04:00April 17, 2018|hospitals, Medicare regulations, MedPAC|

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: using payments to ensure appropriate access to and use of hospital emergency department services uniform outcome measures for post-acute care applying MedPAC’s principles for measuring quality: hospital quality incentives Medicare coverage policy and use of low-value care long-term issues confronting Medicare accountable care organizations managed care plans for dual-eligible beneficiaries 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 [...]

iqtsupport2018-04-09T06:00:21-04:00April 9, 2018|Accountable Care Organization, Medicare, Medicare post-acute care, Medicare regulations, MedPAC|

MedPAC Issues 2018 Report to Congress

The Medicare Payment Advisory Commission has issued its 2018 report and recommendations to Congress. The report includes MedPAC’s recommendations for next year’s Medicare fee-for-service payments; a review of the Medicare Advantage and Medicare Part D programs, with recommendations; and a report telehealth required by the 21st Century Cures Act. For Medicare fee-for-service rates, MedPAC proposes: the inpatient and outpatient rate increases, physician and other health professional rate increases, and outpatient dialysis increase included under current law no increase for ambulatory surgical centers, long-term-care hospitals, and hospice providers no rate increase for skilled nursing facilities a five percent reduction of payments [...]

iqtsupport2018-03-21T06:00:04-04:00March 21, 2018|Medicare, MedPAC|

Readmissions Program Working; Expansion in Order?

The Medicare hospital readmissions reduction program is working, according to the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission. And it may even be worth expanding to additional medical conditions, MedPAC members believe. According to MedPAC, hospital readmissions among patients with medical conditions covered by the readmissions reduction program have declined faster than readmissions among patients with medical conditions not covered by the program, suggesting that expanding the program to additional medical conditions could lead to an even greater reduction in the number of avoidable Medicare-covered readmissions. Learn more about changes in the readmission rate since the readmissions reduction program was introduced and whether [...]

iqtsupport2018-03-07T06:00:23-05:00March 7, 2018|Medicare, Medicare regulations, MedPAC|