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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
Report on comparing quality among Medicare Advantage plans and between Medicare Advantage and fee-for-service Medicare (7) The Secretary should develop and report on additional quality measures for Medicare Advantage plan and Medicare Advantage–to–fee-for-service comparisons that address gaps in current quality measures.	Part C (Medicare Advantage) Quality	March 2010
Report on comparing quality among Medicare Advantage plans and between Medicare Advantage and fee-for-service Medicare (8) The Congress should provide the Secretary with sufficient resources to implement the Commission’s recommendations in this report.	Part C (Medicare Advantage)	March 2010
Skilled nursing facility services The Congress should eliminate the update to payment rates for skilled nursing facility services for fiscal year 2011.	Post-acute care	March 2010
Home health services (1) The Congress should eliminate the market basket increase for 2010 and advance the planned reductions for coding adjustments in 2011 to 2010, so that payments in 2010 are reduced by 5.5 percent from 2009 levels.	Post-acute care	February 2009
Home health services (2) The Congress should direct the Secretary to rebase rates for home health care services in 2011 to reflect the average cost of providing care.	Post-acute care	February 2009
Home health services (3) The Congress should direct the Secretary to assess payment measures that protect the quality of care and ensure incentives for the efficient delivery of home health care. The study should include alternative payment strategies such as blended payments and risk corridors and outcome-based quality incentives.	Delivery system reforms Post-acute care Quality	February 2009
Hospital inpatient and outpatient services (1) The Congress should increase payment rates for the acute inpatient and outpatient prospective payment systems in 2010 by the projected rate of increase in the hospital market basket index, concurrent with implementation of a quality incentive payment program.	Hospital Quality	February 2009
Hospital inpatient and outpatient services (2) The Congress should reduce the indirect medical education adjustment in 2010 by 1 percentage point to 4.5 percent per 10 percent increment in the resident-to-bed ratio. The funds obtained by reducing the indirect medical education adjustment should be used to fund a quality incentive payment program.	Hospital Quality	February 2009
Inpatient rehabilitation facility services The update to the payment rates for inpatient rehabilitation facility services should be eliminated for fiscal year 2010.	Post-acute care	February 2009
Long-term care hospital services The Secretary should update payment rates for long-term care hospitals for fiscal year 2010 by the projected rate of increase in the rehabilitation, psychiatric, and long-term care hospital market basket index less the Commission’s adjustment for productivity growth.	Post-acute care	February 2009