Commission Recommendations
MedPAC makes recommendations to the Congress and to the Secretary of Health and Human Services on issues affecting the administration of the Medicare program. With its recommendations, the Commission strives to improve the delivery of care, while ensuring financial stability and maximizing value for the program. After extensive analysis and evaluation, our recommendations are discussed and voted on by Commissioners in our public meetings. Recommendations are typically published in two main reports, released in March and June of each year.
| Recommendations | Topic(s) | Date |
|---|---|---|
Hospice servicesFor fiscal year 2027, the Congress should eliminate the update to the 2026 Medicare base payment rates for hospice. |
|
March 2026 |
Inpatient rehabilitation servicesFor fiscal year 2027, the Congress should reduce the 2026 Medicare base payment rate for inpatient rehabilitation facilities by 7 percent. |
|
March 2026 |
Home health care servicesFor calendar year 2027, the Congress should reduce the 2026 Medicare base payment rate for home health agencies by 7 percent. |
|
March 2026 |
Skilled nursing facility servicesFor fiscal year 2027, the Congress should reduce the 2026 Medicare base payment rates for skilled nursing facilities by 4 percent. |
|
March 2026 |
Outpatient dialysis servicesFor calendar year 2027, the Congress should eliminate the update to the 2026 Medicare base payment rate for outpatient dialysis services. |
|
March 2026 |
Physician and other health professional servicesFor calendar year 2027, the Congress should increase payment rates for physician and other health professional services by 0.5 percentage points more than current law. |
|
March 2026 |
Hospital inpatient and outpatient servicesThe Congress should: |
|
March 2026 |
Reducing beneficiary cost sharing for outpatient services at critical access hospitalsFor fee-for-service Medicare beneficiaries, the Congress should: |
|
June 2025 |
Reforming physician fee schedule updates and improving the accuracy of relative payment rates (2)The Congress should direct the Secretary to improve the accuracy of Medicare’s relative payment rates for clinician services by collecting and using timely data that reflect the costs of delivering care. |
|
June 2025 |
Reforming physician fee schedule updates and improving the accuracy of relative payment rates (1)The Congress should replace the current–law updates to the physician fee schedule with an annual update based on a portion of the growth in the Medicare Economic Index (MEI) (such as MEI minus1 percentage point). |
|
June 2025 |