Medicare Panel Mulls Recommending Nursing Home Payment Cut

Bloomberg

December 10, 2021 4:59 pm

A congressional advisory panel on Friday moved to recommend that Medicare payments for nursing homes, home health agencies and inpatient rehabilitation facilities be cut by 5% in 2023, citing adequate reimbursement rates for the facilities.

Only long-term care hospitals would see a payment increase in 2023 under the draft recommendations adopted by the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission on the final day of its December meeting. The panel’s draft recommendation calls for 2% increase in the Medicare base payment rate for long-term hospitals, minus an applicable productivity adjustment.

MedPAC provides lawmakers with analysis and policy advice on the taxpayer-funded Medicare program. Its recommendations are nonbinding, but Congress utilizes commissioners’ expertise when making funding decisions.

Each year, the commission advises Congress about how to update payment rates for health providers that treat Medicare beneficiaries.

Final commission recommendations will be voted on in January 2022. All final recommendations for 2023 will be included in the commission’s March 2022 report to Congress on Medicare payment policy.

A second draft recommendation for home health agencies would require them to report services delivered via telehealth on their Medicare claims submissions.