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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
Home health services The Congress should eliminate the update to payment rates for home health care services for calendar year 2008.	Post-acute care	March 2007
Hospital inpatient and outpatient services (1) The Congress should increase payment rates for the acute inpatient and outpatient prospective payment systems in 2008 by the projected rate of increase in the hospital market basket index, concurrent with implementation of a quality incentive payment program.	Hospital Quality	March 2007
Hospital inpatient and outpatient services (2) Concurrent with implementation of severity adjustment to Medicare’s diagnosis related group payments, the Congress should reduce the indirect medical education adjustment in fiscal year 2008 by 1 percentage point to 4.5 percent per 10 percent increment in the resident-to-bed ratio. The funds obtained from reducing the indirect medical education adjustment should be used to fund… Read more »	Hospital Quality	March 2007
Hospital inpatient and outpatient services (3) The Secretary should improve the form and accompanying instructions for collecting data on uncompensated care in the Medicare cost report and require hospitals to report using the revised form as soon as possible.	Hospital	March 2007
Inpatient rehabilitation facility services The Congress should update payment rates for inpatient rehabilitation services by 1 percent for fiscal year 2008.	Post-acute care	March 2007
Long-term care hospital services The Secretary should eliminate the update to payment rates for long-term care hospital services for rate year 2008.	Post-acute care	March 2007
Outpatient dialysis services The Congress should update the composite rate in calendar year 2008 by the projected rate of increase in the end-stage renal disease market basket index less the Commission’s expectation for productivity growth.	Ambulatory care settings	March 2007
Physician services The Congress should update payments for physician services in 2008 by the projected change in input prices less the Commission’s expectation for productivity growth.	Physicians and other health professionals	March 2007
Skilled nursing facility services The Congress should eliminate the update to payment rates for skilled nursing facility services for fiscal year 2008.	Post-acute care	March 2007
Home health services The Congress should eliminate the update to payment rates for home health care services for calendar year 2007.	Post-acute care	March 2006