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 |
|---|---|---|
Inpatient rehabilitation facility servicesThe update to the payment rates for inpatient rehabilitation facility services should be eliminated for fiscal year 2011. |
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March 2010 |
Long-term care hospital servicesThe Secretary should eliminate the update to the payment rate for long-term care hospitals for rate year 2011. |
|
March 2010 |
Outpatient dialysis servicesThe Congress should update the composite rate by the projected rate of increase in the end-stage renal disease market basket less the adjustment for productivity growth for calendar year 2011. |
|
March 2010 |
Physician servicesThe Congress should update payments for physician services in 2011 by 1.0 percent. |
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March 2010 |
Report on comparing quality among Medicare Advantage plans and between Medicare Advantage and fee-for-service Medicare (1)The Secretary should define electronic health record “meaningful use” criteria such that all qualifying electronic health records can collect and report the data needed to compute a comprehensive set of process and outcome measures consistent with these recommendations. Qualifying electronic health records should have the capacity to include and report patient demographic data such as… Read more » |
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March 2010 |
Report on comparing quality among Medicare Advantage plans and between Medicare Advantage and fee-for-service Medicare (2)The Secretary should collect, calculate, and report quality measurement results in Medicare Advantage at the level of the geographic units the Commission has recommended for Medicare Advantage payments, and calculate fee-for-service quality results for purposes of comparing Medicare Advantage and fee-for-service using the same geographic units. |
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March 2010 |
Report on comparing quality among Medicare Advantage plans and between Medicare Advantage and fee-for-service Medicare (3)The Secretary should have all health plan types in Medicare Advantage report on the same basis, including reporting measures based on medical record review, and the Congress should remove the statutory exceptions for preferred provider organizations and private fee-for-service plans with respect to such reporting. |
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March 2010 |
Report on comparing quality among Medicare Advantage plans and between Medicare Advantage and fee-for-service Medicare (4)The Secretary should collect and report the same survey-based data that are collected in Medicare Advantage through the Health Outcomes Survey for the Medicare fee-for-service population, unless the Secretary determines that such data cannot meaningfully differentiate quality among Medicare Advantage plans and between fee-for-service and Medicare Advantage. |
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March 2010 |
Report on comparing quality among Medicare Advantage plans and between Medicare Advantage and fee-for-service Medicare (5)The Secretary should expeditiously publish specifications for forthcoming Medicare Advantage plan encounter data submissions to obtain the data needed to calculate patient outcome measures. |
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March 2010 |
Report on comparing quality among Medicare Advantage plans and between Medicare Advantage and fee-for-service Medicare (6)The Secretary should calculate fee-for-service results for Healthcare Effectiveness Data and Information Set administrative-only measures for those measures the Secretary determines can provide a valid comparison of the two sectors. |
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March 2010 |