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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
Hospital inpatient and outpatient services (2) The Congress should enact a low-volume adjustment to the rates used in the inpatient PPS. This adjustment should apply only to hospitals that are more than 15 miles from another facility offering acute inpatient care.	Hospital	February 2003
Hospital inpatient and outpatient services (3) The Secretary should reevaluate the labor share used in the wage index system that geographically adjusts rates in the inpatient PPS, with any resulting changed phased in over two years.	Hospital	February 2003
Hospital inpatient and outpatient services (4) The Congress should raise the inpatient base rate for hospitals in rural and other urban areas to the level of the rate for those in large urban areas, phased in over two years.	Hospital Regional issues	February 2003
Hospital inpatient and outpatient services (5) The Congress should raise the cap on the disproportionate share add-on a hospital can receive in the inpatient PPS from 5.25 percent to 10 percent, phased in over two years.	Hospital	February 2003
Hospital inpatient and outpatient services (6) The Congress should increase payment rates for the inpatient PPS by the rate of increase in the hospital market basket, less 0.4 percent, for fiscal year 2004.	Hospital	February 2003
Hospital inpatient and outpatient services (7) The Congress should increase payment rates for the outpatient PPS by the rate of increase in the hospital market basket, less 0.9 percent, for calendar year 2004.	Hospital	February 2003
Outpatient dialysis services The Congress should update the composite rate payment by the projected change in input prices, less 0.9 percent, for calendar year 2004.	Ambulatory care settings	February 2003
Payment for new technologies in Medicare’s prospective payment systems The Secretary should introduce clinical criteria for eligibility of drugs and biologicals to receive pass-through payments under the outpatient prospective payment system.	Drugs, Devices, and Tests Hospital	February 2003
Physician services The Congress should update payments for physician services by the projected change in input prices, less an adjustment for productivity growth of 0.9 percent, for 2004.	Physicians and other health professionals	February 2003
Skilled nursing facility services (1) The Secretary should continue a series of nationally representative studies on access to skilled nursing facility services (similar to studies previously conducted by the Department of Health and Human Services’ Office of Inspector General).	Post-acute care	February 2003