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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
Physician and other health professional services The Congress should:	Physicians and other health professionals	March 2024
Physician and other health professional services (1) For calendar year 2024, the Congress should update the 2023 Medicare base payment rate for physician and other health professional services by 50 percent of the projected increase in the Medicare Economic Index.	Physicians and other health professionals	March 2023
Physician and other health professional services (2) The Congress should enact a non-budget-neutral add-on payment, not subject to beneficiary cost sharing, under the physician fee schedule for services provided to low-income Medicare beneficiaries. These add-on payments should equal a clinician’s allowed charges for these beneficiaries multiplied by:	Physicians and other health professionals	March 2023
Physician and other health professional services (1) For calendar year 2023, the Congress should update the 2022 Medicare base payment rate for physician and other health professional services by the amount determined under current law.	Physicians and other health professionals	March 2022
Physician and other health professional services (2) The Secretary should require that clinicians use a claims modifier to identify audio-only telehealth services.	Physicians and other health professionals	March 2022
Physician and other health professional services For calendar year 2022, the Congress should update the 2021 Medicare payment rates for physician and other health professional services by the amounts determined under current law.	Physicians and other health professionals	March 2021
Physician and other health professional services For calendar year 2021, the Congress should increase the calendar year 2020 payment rates for physician and other health professional services by the amount specified in current law.	Physicians and other health professionals	March 2020
Issues in Medicare beneficiaries’ access to primary care (1) The Congress should require advanced practice registered nurses and physician assistants to bill the Medicare program directly, eliminating “incident to” billing for services they provide.	Physicians and other health professionals	June 2019
Issues in Medicare beneficiaries’ access to primary care (2) The Secretary should refine Medicare’s specialty designations for advanced practice registered nurses and physician assistants.	Physicians and other health professionals	June 2019
Physician and other health professional services For calendar year 2020, the Congress should increase the calendar year 2019 payment rates for physician and other health professional services by the amount specified in current law.	Physicians and other health professionals	March 2019