On March 15, 2012, the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission (MedPAC) released its March 2012 Report to the Congress: Medicare Payment Policy (the “Report”). MedPAC is required to review annually Medicare payment policies and make recommendations to Congress. The Report includes MedPAC’s analyses of payment adequacy in fee-for-service (FFS) Medicare, Medicare Advantage and Part D, and also includes MedPAC’s assessment of the sustainable growth rate (SGR) system for physician payment.

• Fee-for-service payment update recommendations. The Report primarily focuses on recommendations for annual rate adjustments under various Medicare FFS payment systems or health care provider sector updates. MedPAC bases these update recommendations on an assessment of payment adequacy, taking into account beneficiary access to care, quality of care, providers’ access to capital and, where available, provider costs and Medicare payments. The Report includes recommendations for inpatient and outpatient hospitals, physicians and other health professionals, ambulatory surgery centers, outpatient dialysis, skilled nursing facilities, home health agencies, inpatient rehabilitation facilities, long term care hospitals and hospice. Please click here for the MedPAC Fact Sheet summarizing these FFS payment update recommendations...

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