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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
Hospice services The Congress should eliminate the fiscal year 2019 update to the Medicare payment rates for hospice services.	Post-acute care	March 2018
Inpatient rehabilitation facility services The Congress should reduce the fiscal year 2019 Medicare payment rate for inpatient rehabilitation facilities by 5 percent. Additionally, the Commission reiterates its March 2016 recommendations on the inpatient rehabilitation facility prospective payment system.	Post-acute care	March 2018
Long-term care hospital services The Secretary should eliminate the fiscal year 2019 Medicare payment update for long-term care hospitals.	Post-acute care	March 2018
Post-acute care: Increasing the equity of Medicare’s payments within each setting The Congress should direct the Secretary to begin to base Medicare payments to post-acute care (PAC) providers on a blend of each sector’s setting-specific relative weights and the unified PAC prospective payment system’s relative weights in fiscal year 2019.	Delivery system reforms Post-acute care	March 2018
Skilled nursing facility services The Congress should: eliminate the market basket update for skilled nursing facilities for fiscal years 2019 and 2020; direct the Secretary to implement a redesigned prospective payment system (PPS) in fiscal year 2019 for skilled nursing facilities; and direct the Secretary to report to the Congress on the impacts of the revised PPS and make… Read more »	Delivery system reforms Post-acute care	March 2018
Implementing a unified payment system for post-acute care The Congress should direct the Secretary to: implement a prospective payment system for post-acute care beginning in 2021 with a three year transition; lower aggregate payments by 5 percent, absent prior reductions to the level of payments; concurrently, begin to align setting-specific regulatory requirements; and periodically revise and rebase payments, as needed, to keep payments… Read more »	Delivery system reforms Post-acute care	June 2017
Home health care services The Congress should reduce home health payment rates by 5 percent in 2018 and implement a two-year rebasing of the payment system beginning in 2019. The Congress should direct the Secretary to revise the prospective payment system to eliminate the use of the number of therapy visits as a factor in payment determinations, concurrent with… Read more »	Delivery system reforms Post-acute care	March 2017
Hospice services The Congress should eliminate the update to the hospice payment rates for fiscal year 2018.	Post-acute care	March 2017
Inpatient rehabilitation facility services The Congress should reduce the Medicare payment rate for inpatient rehabilitation facilities by 5 percent for fiscal year 2018. Additionally, the Commission reiterates its March 2016 recommendations on the inpatient rehabilitation facility prospective payment system.	Post-acute care	March 2017
Long-term care hospital services The Congress should eliminate the update to the payment rates under the long-term care hospital prospective payment system for fiscal year 2018.	Post-acute care	March 2017