Although President George Bush reversed a proposed cut to physicians’ Medicare reimbursements late last year, the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission (MedPAC) will lobby Congress to increase reimbursements by about 1.7 percent in 2008. (Source)
Reimbursement will be decreased by 10 percent under the present payment system, according to MedPAC, and it will urge Congress to act now.
MedPAC will also recommend that Congress freeze 2008 reimbursement increases for long term care facilities like nursing homes. According to Alan Rosenbloom, president of the Alliance for Quality Nursing Home Care, such a move “would undermine the great strides skilled nursing homes have taken to improve the quality of care and provide a fair wage to hundreds of thousands of caregivers.â€
The American Health Care Association’s Bruce Yarwood is also concerned about MedPAC’s recommendation, which he says is “one hundred percent contrary to the interests of our nation’s most vulnerable citizens dependent upon adequately-funded nursing homes for their care.”
You may download and read a PDF copy of MedPAC’s report, Impact of Changes in Medicare Payments for Part D Drugs.
