MedPAC releases report to Congress
Contemporary Long-Term Care Weekly, June 18, 2009
Want to receive articles like this one in your inbox? Subscribe to Contemporary Long-Term Care Weekly!
The Medicare Payment Advisory Commission (MedPAC) released its June 2009 Report to the Congress: Improving Incentives in the Medicare Program on June 15, according to a MedPAC press release. The report explores how current Medicare incentives reward volume, rather than quality of care, and presents information regarding the negative effects of some incentives. For example, the report presents data showing that “physicians who furnish imaging services in their offices refer patients for more tests than other physicians” and “greater use of imaging (and specific types of imaging) is associated with greater overall resource use,” according to the report.
The report also discusses opportunities to modify incentives to provide better, more cost-effective care. These opportunities are:
- Graduate medical education. Studies indicate that healthcare professionals are not taught the skills needed to succeed in a system working towards patient-centered care, quality improvement, and resource conservation. The MedPAC report advocates for reforming medical education to better equip healthcare professionals for the transforming industry.
- Accountable care organization. The report discusses how accountable care organizations (ACO), which are defined as a set of providers held responsible for the quality and cost of healthcare for a population of Medicare beneficiaries, can help improve coordination among healthcare providers, lower cost growth, and improve quality of care.
- Physician resource use measurement. MedPAC proposes some principles to help CMS implement the program to measure physician resource use.
To view the MedPAC’s June 2009 Report to the Congress: Improving Incentives in the Medicare Program, visit the Resources page on MDSCentral.
Want to receive articles like this one in your inbox? Subscribe to Contemporary Long-Term Care Weekly!
Related Products
Most Popular
- Articles
-
- Q/A: Billing telemetry daily monitoring
- Credentialing monthly: What is the role of the credentials committee in addressing unprofessional conduct?
- 2010 ICD-9 code updates now available online
- Master modifiers to ensure accurate reimbursement
- Radiologist indicted for fraudulently signing reports
- National Quality Forum creates standardized set of data for electronic health records
- H1N1 hits Maine facility
- New report reveals $47 billion in Medicare fraud
- Understand the H1N1 Flu and how to code it
- Don’t be scared into silence: Affiliation letter safeguards allow you to disclose more
- E-mailed
-
- Q/A: Billing telemetry daily monitoring
- Credentialing monthly: What is the role of the credentials committee in addressing unprofessional conduct?
- Radiologist indicted for fraudulently signing reports
- Revised MS.1.20 'huge improvement', out for comment again
- Briefings on Outpatient Rehab Reimbursement and Regulations, December 2009
- New report reveals $47 billion in Medicare fraud
- Press Ganey report: Patient satisfaction increasing across the country
- Residency Program Alert, December 2009
- CMW News: Palliative care programs save hospitals money
- How Unions are Using the Sherman Antitrust Act and Wage Surveys to Organize the Healthcare Industry
- Searched
