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 |
|---|---|---|
Hospice services (2)The Secretary should require that hospices report telehealth services on Medicare claims. |
|
March 2022 |
Mandated report: Evaluating the skilled nursing facility value-based purchasing program (1)The Congress should eliminate Medicare’s current skilled nursing facility (SNF) value-based purchasing program and establish a new SNF value incentive program (VIP) that: scores a small set of performance measures; incorporates strategies to ensure reliable measure results; establishes a system for distributing rewards that minimizes cliff effects; accounts for differences in patient social risk factors… Read more » |
|
June 2021 |
Mandated report: Evaluating the skilled nursing facility value-based purchasing program (2)The Secretary should finalize development of and begin to report patient experience measures for skilled nursing facilities. |
|
June 2021 |
Home health care servicesFor calendar year 2022, the Congress should reduce the 2021 Medicare base payment rate for home health agencies by 5 percent. |
|
March 2021 |
Hospice servicesFor fiscal year 2022, the Congress should eliminate the update to the 2021 Medicare base payment rates for hospice and wage adjust and reduce the hospice aggregate cap by 20 percent. |
|
March 2021 |
Inpatient rehabilitation facility servicesFor fiscal year 2022, the Congress should reduce the 2021 Medicare base payment rate for inpatient rehabilitation facilities by 5 percent. |
|
March 2021 |
Long-term care hospital servicesFor fiscal year 2022, the Secretary should increase the 2021 Medicare base payment rate for long-term care hospitals by 2 percent. |
|
March 2021 |
Skilled nursing facility servicesFor fiscal year 2022, the Congress should eliminate the update to the 2021 Medicare base payment rates for skilled nursing facilities. |
|
March 2021 |
Home health care servicesFor 2021, the Congress should reduce the calendar year 2020 Medicare base payment rate for home health agencies by 7 percent. |
|
March 2020 |
Hospice servicesThe Congress should: for 2021, eliminate the update to the FY 2020 Medicare base payment rates for hospice, and wage adjust and reduce the hospice aggregate cap by 20 percent. |
|
March 2020 |