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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
Post-acute care providers: Steps toward broad payment reforms The Congress should direct the Secretary to implement common patient assessment items for use in home health agencies, skilled nursing facilities, inpatient rehabilitation facilities, and long-term care hospitals by 2016.	Post-acute care	March 2014
Hospice services The Congress should eliminate the update to the hospice payment rates for fiscal year 2014.	Post-acute care	March 2013
Inpatient rehabilitation facility services The Congress should eliminate the update to the Medicare payment rates for inpatient rehabilitation facilities in fiscal year 2014.	Post-acute care	March 2013
Long-term care hospital services The Secretary should eliminate the update to the payment rates for long-term care hospitals for fiscal year 2014.	Post-acute care	March 2013
Home health care services The Commission reiterates its March 2011 recommendations on improving the home health payment system.	Post-acute care	March 2012
Hospice services The Congress should update the payment rates for hospice for fiscal year 2013 by 0.5 percent	Post-acute care	March 2012
Inpatient rehabilitation facility services The Congress should eliminate the update to the Medicare payment rates for inpatient rehabilitation facilities in fiscal year 2013.	Post-acute care	March 2012
Long-term care hospital services The Secretary should eliminate the update to the payment rates for long-term care hospitals for fiscal year 2013.	Post-acute care	March 2012
Skilled nursing facility services (1) The Congress should eliminate the market basket update and direct the Secretary to revise the prospective payment system for skilled nursing facilities for 2013. Rebasing payments should begin in 2014, with an initial reduction of 4 percent and subsequent reductions over an appropriate transition until Medicare’s payments are better aligned with providers’ costs.	Post-acute care	March 2012
Skilled nursing facility services (2) The Congress should direct the Secretary to reduce payments to skilled nursing facilities with relatively high risk-adjusted rates of rehospitalization during Medicare-covered stays and be expanded to include a time period after discharge from the facility.	Post-acute care	March 2012