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Advising the Congress on Medicare issues
MedPAC > Recommendations

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

Structuring informed beneficiary choice (D)

The Secretary should define and regularly update appropriate standard terms for describing Medicare coverage options. HCFA should use these terms in its informational materials, require their use by Medicare+Choice organizations, and encourage their use by medigap policy carriers and others who provide beneficiary information.
  • Part C (Medicare Advantage)
  • Quality

June 1999

Structuring informed beneficiary choice (E)

The Secretary should study the enrollment patterns of beneficiaries, giving particular attention to vulnerable groups, to assess whether their informational needs are adequately met.
  • Quality

June 1999

Structuring informed beneficiary choice (F)

The Secretary should monitor the prevalence of aggressive marketing techniques or abuses, especially toward vulnerable populations, such as frail beneficiaries and those without functional literacy.
  • Quality

June 1999

Post-Acute Care Providers: Moving toward Prospective Payment (B)

The Secretary should establish quality monitoring systems for post-acute care as prospective payment systems are implemented.
  • Post-acute care
  • Quality

March 1999

Post-Acute Care Providers: Moving toward Prospective Payment (C)

The Secretary should conduct a demonstration to assess the potential of the Functional Independence Measure-Function Related Groups classification system to predict the resource use of intensive rehabilitation patients in skilled nursing facilities.
  • Post-acute care
  • Quality

March 1999

Post-Acute Care Providers: Moving toward Prospective Payment (D)

The Secretary should continue to refine the classification system used in the skilled nursing facility prospective payment system to improve its ability to predict the resources associated with nontherapy ancillary services.
  • Post-acute care
  • Quality

March 1999