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Advising the Congress on Medicare issues
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

Defining long-term care hospitals (A)

The Congress and the Secretary should define long-term care hospitals by facility and patient criteria that ensure that patients admitted to these facilities are medically complex and have a good chance of improvement. * Facility-level criteria should characterize this level of care by features such as staffing, patient evaluation and review processes, and mix of… Read more »
  • Post-acute care

June 2004

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.
  • Post-acute care
  • Quality

June 2004

Home health services (1)

The Congress should eliminate the update to payment rates for home health services for 2005.
  • Post-acute care

February 2004

Home health services (2)

The Secretary should continue to monitor access to care, the impact of the payment system on patient selection, and the use of services across post-acute care settings.
  • Post-acute care

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

Home health services (1)

The Secretary should continue a series of nationally representative studies on access to home health services (similar to studies previously conducted by the Department of Health and Human Services’ Office of Inspector General)
  • Post-acute care

February 2003

Home health services (2)

The Congress should extend for one year add-on payments at 5 percent for home health services provided to Medicare beneficiaries who live in rural areas.
  • Post-acute care

February 2003

Home health services (3)

The Congress should eliminate the update to payment rates for home health services for fiscal year 2004.
  • Post-acute care

February 2003