MedPAC > Recommendations

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
Medicare+Choice payment and eligibility policy (B) The Congress should allow all beneficiaries with end-stage renal disease to enroll in private plans.	Ambulatory care settings Beneficiaries and coverage Part C (Medicare Advantage)	February 2004
Medicare+Choice payment and eligibility policy The Congress should establish a quality incentive payment policy for all Medicare Advantage plans.	Delivery system reforms Part C (Medicare Advantage)	February 2004
Medicare+Choice payment and eligibility policy (A) CMS should continue to risk-adjust payments with the new CMS hierarchical condition category system, but should not continue to offset the impact of risk adjustment on overall payments in 2005 and subsequent years.	Ambulatory care settings	February 2004
Outpatient dialysis services (1) The Congress should maintain current law and update the composite rate by 1.6 percent for 2005.	Ambulatory care settings	February 2004
Outpatient dialysis services (2) The Congress should establish a quality incentive payment policy for physicians and facilities providing outpatient dialysis services.	Ambulatory care settings Delivery system reforms Physicians and other health professionals	February 2004
Physician services The Congress should update payments for physician services by the projected change in input prices, less an adjustment for productivity growth of 0.9 percent, in 2005	Physicians and other health professionals	February 2004
Skilled nursing facility services (1) The Congress should eliminate the update to payment rates for skilled nursing facility services for fiscal year 2005.	Post-acute care	February 2004
Skilled nursing facility services (2) The Secretary should develop a new classification system for care in skilled nursing facilities. Until this happens, the Congress should authorize the Secretary to: * Remove some or all of the 6.7 percent payment add-on currently applied to the rehabilitation RUG-III groups, and Reallocate the money to the nonrehabilitation RUG-III groups to achieve a better… Read more »	Delivery system reforms Post-acute care	February 2004
Skilled nursing facility services (3) The Secretary should direct skilled nursing facilities to report nursing costs separately from routine costs.	Post-acute care	February 2004
Using incentives to improve the quality of care in Medicare The Secretary should conduct demonstrations to evaluate provider payment differentials and structures that reward and improve quality.	Delivery system reforms Quality	June 2003