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 services (1)The Secretary should evaluate hospice payment rates to ensure they are consistent with the costs of providing appropriate care. |
|
May 2002 |
Hospice services (2)The Secretary should research differences in the care and resource needs of hospice patients and determine whether a case-mix adjusted payment system for hospice care is feasible. He also should study ways to establish a high-cost outlier policy. |
|
May 2002 |
Home health services (1)The Congress should extend for two years the 10 percent add-on payments for home health services provided in rural areas. |
|
March 2002 |
Home health services (2)The Congress should update home health payments by market basket for fiscal year 2003. |
|
March 2002 |
Home health services (3)The Congress should eliminate the payment cut for home health services scheduled for October 2002 in current law. |
|
March 2002 |
Skilled nursing facility services (1)The Secretary should develop a new classification system for care in skilled nursing facilities. |
|
March 2002 |
Skilled nursing facility services (2)If the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services refines the classification system for care in skilled nursing facilities, the temporary payment increase, previously implemented to allow time for refinement, will end. The Congress should retain this money in the base payment rate for skilled nursing facilities. |
|
March 2002 |
Skilled nursing facility services (3)For fiscal year 2003, the Congress should update payments to skilled nursing facilities as follows. For freestanding facilities, no update is necessary. For hospital-based facilities, update payments by market basket and increase payments by 10 percent until a new classification system is developed. |
|
March 2002 |
Prospective payment for home health services in rural areas (A)The Congress should not exempt rural home health services from the prospective payment system. |
|
June 2001 |
Prospective payment for home health services in rural areas (B)The Secretary should study a sample of home health providers: to evaluate the impact of prospective payment on home health in rural areas; to evaluate costs that may affect the adequacy of prospective payments, and to find ways to improve all cost reports. |
|
June 2001 |