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) | Publication |
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Hospice servicesThe Congress should: for 2021, eliminate the update to the FY 2020 Medicare base payment rates for hospice, and wage adjust and reduce the hospice aggregate cap by 20 percent. |
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Inpatient rehabilitation facility servicesFor fiscal year 2021, the Congress should reduce the fiscal year 2020 Medicare base 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. |
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Long-term care hospital servicesFor fiscal year 2021, the Secretary should increase the fiscal year 2020 Medicare base payment rates for long-term care hospitals by 2 percent. |
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Skilled nursing facility servicesFor fiscal year 2021, the Congress should eliminate the update to the fiscal year 2020 Medicare base payment rates for skilled nursing facilities. |
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Home health care servicesFor 2020, the Congress should reduce the calendar year 2019 Medicare base payment rate for home health agencies by 5 percent. |
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Hospice servicesFor 2020, the Congress should reduce the fiscal year 2019 Medicare base payment rates for hospice providers by 2 percent. |
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Inpatient rehabilitation facility servicesFor 2020, the Congress should reduce the fiscal year 2019 Medicare base 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. |
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Long-term care hospital servicesFor 2020, the Secretary should increase the fiscal year 2019 Medicare base payment rates for long-term care hospitals by 2 percent. |
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Skilled nursing facility services (1)The Congress should proceed to revise the skilled nursing facility prospective payment system in fiscal year 2020 and should annually recalibrate the relative weights of the case-mix groups to maintain alignment of payments and costs. |
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Skilled nursing facility services (2)The Congress should eliminate the fiscal year 2020 update to the Medicare base payment rates for skilled nursing facilities. |
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