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MedPAC releases report to Congress

Contemporary Long-Term Care Weekly, June 18, 2009

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.

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