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 |
|---|---|---|
Payment for dialysis (B)The Secretary should: * Eliminate differences in paying for injectable drugs between hospital-based and freestanding dialysis facilities; and * Use average sales price data to base payment for all injectable dialysis drugs that are separately billable in 2006. |
|
June 2005 |
Payment for dialysis (C)The Congress should give the Secretary the authority to periodically collect average acquisition cost data from dialysis providers and compare it with average sales price data. The Secretary should collect data on the acquisition cost and payment per unit for drugs- other than erythropoietin- that hospital-based providers furnish. |
|
June 2005 |
Outpatient dialysis servicesThe Congress should update the composite rate by the projected rate of increase in the end-stage renal disease market basket index less 0.4 percent for calendar year 2006. |
|
March 2005 |
Strategies to improve care: Pay for performance and information technology (F)CMS should require those who perform laboratory tests to submit laboratory values, using common vocabulary standards. |
|
March 2005 |
Ambulatory surgical center services (1)There should be no update to payment rates for ASC services for fiscal year 2005. |
|
February 2004 |
Ambulatory surgical center services (2)The Secretary should revise the ASC payment system so that its relative weights and procedure groups are aligned with those in the outpatient prospective payment system. In addition: * The Congress should require the Secretary to periodically collect ASC cost data at the procedure level to monitor the adequacy of ASC rates, refine the relative… Read more » |
|
February 2004 |
Ambulatory surgical center services (3)After the ASC payment system is revised, the Congress should direct the Secretary to replace the current list of approved ASC procedures with a list of procedures that are excluded from payment based on clinical safety standards and whether the service requires an overnight stay. |
|
February 2004 |
Medicare+Choice payment and eligibility policy (B)The Congress should allow all beneficiaries with end-stage renal disease to enroll in private plans. |
|
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. |
|
February 2004 |
Outpatient dialysis services (1)The Congress should maintain current law and update the composite rate by 1.6 percent for 2005. |
|
February 2004 |