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 |
|---|---|---|
Rebalancing Medicare Advantage benchmark policyThe Congress should replace the current Medicare Advantage (MA) benchmark policy with a new MA benchmark policy that applies: |
|
June 2021 |
Streamlining CMS’s portfolio of alternative payment modelsThe Secretary should implement a more harmonized portfolio of fewer alternative payment models that are designed to work together to support the strategic objectives of reducing spending and improving quality |
|
June 2021 |
Challenges in maintaining and increasing savings from accountable care organizationsThe Secretary should use the same set of national provider identifiers to compute both performance-year and baseline assignment for accountable care organizations in the Medicare Shared Savings Program. |
|
June 2020 |
Home health care servicesThe Congress should reduce Medicare payments to home health agencies by 5 percent in calendar year (CY) 2019 and implement a two-year rebasing of the payment system beginning in CY 2020. The Congress should direct the Secretary to revise the prospective payment system to eliminate the use of therapy visits as a factor in payment… Read more » |
|
March 2018 |
Mandated report: Telehealth services and the Medicare programVote to forward telehealth report to Congress. |
|
March 2018 |
Moving beyond the Merit-based Incentive Payment SystemThe Congress should: eliminate the current Merit-based Incentive Payment System; and establish a new voluntary value program in fee-for-service Medicare in which: clinicians can elect to be measured as part of a voluntary group; and clinicians in voluntary groups can qualify for a value payment based on their group’s performance on a set of population-based… Read more » |
|
March 2018 |
Post-acute care: Increasing the equity of Medicare’s payments within each settingThe Congress should direct the Secretary to begin to base Medicare payments to post-acute care (PAC) providers on a blend of each sector’s setting-specific relative weights and the unified PAC prospective payment system’s relative weights in fiscal year 2019. |
|
March 2018 |
Skilled nursing facility servicesThe Congress should: eliminate the market basket update for skilled nursing facilities for fiscal years 2019 and 2020; direct the Secretary to implement a redesigned prospective payment system (PPS) in fiscal year 2019 for skilled nursing facilities; and direct the Secretary to report to the Congress on the impacts of the revised PPS and make… Read more » |
|
March 2018 |
Implementing a unified payment system for post-acute careThe Congress should direct the Secretary to: implement a prospective payment system for post-acute care beginning in 2021 with a three year transition; lower aggregate payments by 5 percent, absent prior reductions to the level of payments; concurrently, begin to align setting-specific regulatory requirements; and periodically revise and rebase payments, as needed, to keep payments… Read more » |
|
June 2017 |
Home health care servicesThe Congress should reduce home health payment rates by 5 percent in 2018 and implement a two-year rebasing of the payment system beginning in 2019. The Congress should direct the Secretary to revise the prospective payment system to eliminate the use of the number of therapy visits as a factor in payment determinations, concurrent with… Read more » |
|
March 2017 |