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 |
|---|---|---|
Skilled nursing facility services (3)To improve quality measurement for skilled nursing facilities, the Secretary should: * Add the risk-adjusted rates of potentially avoidable rehospitalizations and community discharge to its publicly reported post-acute care quality measures; * Revise the pain, pressure ulcer, and delirium measures currently report on CMS’s Nursing Home Compare website; and * Require skilled nursing facilities to… Read more » |
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February 2008 |
Hospital inpatient and outpatient services (1)The Congress should increase payment rates for the acute inpatient and outpatient prospective payment systems in 2008 by the projected rate of increase in the hospital market basket index, concurrent with implementation of a quality incentive payment program. |
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March 2007 |
Hospital inpatient and outpatient services (2)Concurrent with implementation of severity adjustment to Medicare’s diagnosis related group payments, the Congress should reduce the indirect medical education adjustment in fiscal year 2008 by 1 percentage point to 4.5 percent per 10 percent increment in the resident-to-bed ratio. The funds obtained from reducing the indirect medical education adjustment should be used to fund… Read more » |
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March 2007 |
Skilled nursing facility services (3)To improve quality measurement, the Secretary should: * Collect information on activities of daily living at admission and at discharge; * Develop and use more quality indicators, including process measures, specific to short-stay patients in skilled nursing facilities; and * Put a high priority on developing appropriate quality measures for pay for performance. |
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March 2006 |
Skilled nursing facility services (3)CMS should: * Develop and use more quality indicators specific to short-stay patients in skilled nursing facilities, * Put a high priority on developing appropriate quality measures for pay for performance, and * Collect information on activities of daily living at admission and discharge. |
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March 2005 |
Strategies to improve care: Pay for performance and information technology (A)The Congress should establish a quality incentive payment policy for hospitals in Medicare. |
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March 2005 |
Strategies to improve care: Pay for performance and information technology (C)The Congress should establish a quality incentive payment policy for home health agencies in Medicare. |
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March 2005 |
Strategies to improve care: Pay for performance and information technology (D)The Secretary should develop a valid set of measures of home health adverse events, including adequate risk adjustment. |
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March 2005 |
Strategies to improve care: Pay for performance and information technology (E)The Congress should establish a quality incentive payment policy for physicians in Medicare. |
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March 2005 |
Defining long-term care hospitals (B)The Secretary should require the Quality Improvement Organizations to review long-term care hospital admissions for medical necessity and monitor that these facilities are in compliance with defining criteria. |
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June 2004 |