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 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|

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|