The Medicare Payment Advisory Commission (MedPAC), which advises Congress on Medicare issues, released its 2009 report to Congress.
The report includes payment policy recommendations for nine payment systems: hospital inpatient, hospital outpatient, physicians, ambulatory surgical center, outpatient dialysis, skilled nursing, home health, inpatient rehabilitation facilities, and long-term care hospitals.
From the press release:
FEE-FOR-SERVICE PAYMENT UPDATE RECOMMENDATIONS
Hospitals
• The Congress should increase payment rates for the acute inpatient and outpatient prospective payment
systems in 2010 by the projected rate of increase in the hospital market basket index, concurrent with
implementation of a quality incentive payment program.
• The Congress should reduce the indirect medical education adjustment (IME) in 2010 by 1 percentage point
to 4.5 percent per 10 percent increment in the resident-to-bed ratio. The funds obtained by reducing the IME
adjustment should be used to fund a quality incentive payment program.Physicians and Ambulatory Surgical Centers
• The Congress should update payments for physician services in 2010 by 1.1
The report is huge – 424 pages. Download a PDF copy here.
