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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
Home health care services The Congress should reduce Medicare payments to home health agencies by 5 percent in calendar year (CY) 2019 and implement a two-year rebasing of the payment system beginning in CY 2020. The Congress should direct the Secretary to revise the prospective payment system to eliminate the use of therapy visits as a factor in payment… Read more »	Delivery system reforms Post-acute care	March 2018
Hospice services The Congress should eliminate the fiscal year 2019 update to the Medicare payment rates for hospice services.	Post-acute care	March 2018
Hospital inpatient and outpatient services For 2019, the Congress should update the 2018 Medicare base payment rates (inpatient and outpatient) for acute care hospitals by the amount determined under current law.	Hospital	March 2018
Inpatient rehabilitation facility services The Congress should reduce the fiscal year 2019 Medicare payment rate for inpatient rehabilitation facilities by 5 percent. Additionally, the Commission reiterates its March 2016 recommendations on the inpatient rehabilitation facility prospective payment system.	Post-acute care	March 2018
Long-term care hospital services The Secretary should eliminate the fiscal year 2019 Medicare payment update for long-term care hospitals.	Post-acute care	March 2018
Mandated report: Telehealth services and the Medicare program Vote to forward telehealth report to Congress.	Delivery system reforms	March 2018
Moving beyond the Merit-based Incentive Payment System The Congress should: eliminate the current Merit-based Incentive Payment System; and establish a new voluntary value program in fee-for-service Medicare in which: clinicians can elect to be measured as part of a voluntary group; and clinicians in voluntary groups can qualify for a value payment based on their group’s performance on a set of population-based… Read more »	Delivery system reforms Physicians and other health professionals	March 2018
Outpatient dialysis services For 2019, the Congress should update the calendar year 2018 Medicare end-stage renal disease prospective payment system base rate by the amount determined under current law.	Ambulatory care settings	March 2018
Physician and other health professional services For calendar year 2019, the Congress should increase the calendar year 2018 payment rates for physician and other health professional services by the amount specified in current law.	Physicians and other health professionals	March 2018
Post-acute care: Increasing the equity of Medicare’s payments within each setting The Congress should direct the Secretary to begin to base Medicare payments to post-acute care (PAC) providers on a blend of each sector’s setting-specific relative weights and the unified PAC prospective payment system’s relative weights in fiscal year 2019.	Delivery system reforms Post-acute care	March 2018

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