Medicare value-based payments

Federal Health Policy Update for March 28

The following is the latest health policy news from the federal government for March 22-28. Some of the language used below is taken directly from government documents. The Cyberattack on Change Healthcare HHS, its Administration for Strategic Preparedness and Response, and CMS have published a resource guide for providers seeking assistance in response to the Change Healthcare cyberattack. Find that guide here. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services CMS has issued a proposed rule to update Medicare payment policies and rates under its Inpatient Rehabilitation Facility (IRF) Prospective Payment System and the IRF Quality Reporting Program (QRP) for FY 2025. The proposed rule [...]

joe2024-03-28T19:23:45+00:00March 28, 2024|Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, COVID-19, health equity, hospitals, MACPAC, Medicaid, Medicaid and CHIP Payment and Access Commission, 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 April agenda were: Expanding the use of value-based payment in Medicare Medicare Shared Savings Program performance Redesigning the Medicare Advantage quality bonus program Increasing the accuracy and completeness of Medicare Advantage encounter data Evaluating patient functional assessment data reported by post-acute-care providers Options for slowing the growth of Medicare fee-for-service spending for emergency department services Options to increase the affordability of specialty drugs and biologics in Medicare Part D Improving payment for low-volume and isolated outpatient dialysis [...]

admin2019-04-09T06:00:04+00:00April 9, 2019|Alternative payment models, hospitals, Medicare, Medicare post-acute care, Medicare regulations, Medicare reimbursement policy, MedPAC, post-acute care|

Administration Moving Away From Value Pay?

First, new Medicare programs for lump-sums payments for cardiac care and joint replacements were scaled back. Then, additional doctors were exempted from a new payment system that would have paid them more for the results they produce than for the quantity of care they provide. Next, the Department of Health and Human Services presented a document outlining a new direction for its Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation. And it announced that it was seeking input from doctors on payment policy. All suggest that if the Trump administration is not moving away for paying for quality rather than quantity it [...]

admin2017-11-15T06:00:55+00:00November 15, 2017|Medicare|

New Book Addresses Social Risk Factors in Medicare

In the new book Accounting for Social Risk Factors in Medicare Payment, the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine addresses the question of what social risk factors might be worth considering in Medicare value-based payment programs and how those risk factors might be reflected in value-based payments. The book, the culmination of a five-part NASEM process, focuses on five social risk factors: socio-economic position race, ethnicity, and cultural context gender social relationships residential and community context Addressing such factors in Medicare value-based payments, the book finds, can help achieve four important goals: reduce disparities in access, quality, and outcomes [...]

admin2017-05-24T11:47:42+00:00May 24, 2017|Medicare|