The government agency that advises Congress on Medicare payment matters met publicly in Washington, D.C. last week.

During the virtual meeting, members of the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission discussed and debated:

• Assessing payment adequacy and updating payments: hospital inpatient and outpatient services and supporting Medicare safety-net hospitals – commissioners discussed a proposal to increase FY 2024 rates one percentage point more than current law prescribes.  Commissioners also discussed additional steps they might take to provide better support to safety-net hospitals, which they described as “…hospitals with high shares of low-income Medicare patients.”
• Status report: ambulatory surgical center services.
• Assessing payment adequacy and updating payments: physician and other health professional services; and supporting Medicare safety-net clinicians – commissioners discussed increasing physician and health professional provider rates in general and increasing them even more for those who care for larger numbers of low-income Medicare patients.
• Assessing payment adequacy and updating payments: outpatient dialysis services – commissioners discussed increasing these payments 1.5 percentage points.
• Assessing payment adequacy and updating payments: hospice services.
• Assessing payment adequacy and updating payments: skilled nursing facility services – commissioners discussed reducing these payments three percentage points.
• Assessing payment adequacy and updating payments: home health care services – commissioners discussed reducing these payments seven percentage points.
• Assessing payment adequacy and updating payments: inpatient rehabilitation facility services – commissioners discussed reducing these payments three percentage points.

The payment changes commissioners discussed during this meeting were preliminary recommendations; MedPAC members will vote on their final recommendations at their January meeting.

The Alliance of Safety-Net Hospitals will follow MedPAC’s deliberations closely.  Because so many of community safety-net hospitals’ and ASH members’ patients are publicly insured, the adequacy of Medicare payments is very important to them – and more important to them than to the typical American hospital.

MedPAC is an independent congressional agency that advises Congress on issues involving Medicare.  While its recommendations are not binding on Congress or the administration, MedPAC is highly influential in governing circles and its recommendations often find their way into legislation, regulations, and new public policy.

Go here to find the agenda for the two-day meeting and to find the presentations for each of these subjects and learn more about the possible rate increases the commissioners discussed from the Axios article “MedPAC wants pay boost for docs and hospitals.”