MedPAC Examines Physician Payment Adequacy
- December 15, 2016
- Uncategorized
| On December 8 and 9, the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission (MedPAC) met to examine several factors to determine the adequacy of Medicare’s fee-schedule payments for physicians and other health professionals, including beneficiary access; volume growth; and variation in compensation across specialties. The Commission must annually make recommendations to Congress on whether payments to physicians and other health professionals are adequate, and how they should be updated in the year ahead.
During one presentation, MedPAC staff reviewed volume changes that reflect shift of services from freestanding offices to hospitals, which they noted increases overall program spending and beneficiary cost sharing. In another presentation, MedPAC also examined off-campus stand-alone emergency departments, acknowledging a payment incentive to serve patients in the ED versus urgent care or office setting. MedPAC staff has urged Medicare to examine the rise of off-site emergency departments to determine if they are unfairly benefiting from an exemption to the site neutral payment law. To view all meeting details and download MedPAC presentations, CLICK HERE. |
