The Medicare Payment Advisory Commission released its recommendations for changes to Medicare, and they aren’t just playing around at the margins.
Key recommendations include –
–instituting a pay-for-performance scheme for hospitals, doctors, and home-care facilities (no details provided…)
–extend the moratorium on building specialty hospitals for an additional 18 months, which would end the prohibition at the end of 2006
–reduce hospital reimbursement below the overall increase of the market-basket 3.3% to just 2.9%.
Hospitals will certainly breathe a bit easier with the extension of the moratorium on construction, at least those hospitals facing competition from privately-funded ambulatory surgical, cancer, and orthopedic centers.
As suggested here before, prepare for a significant change in government-funded health care programs. And, prepare for the downstream effect of these changes as providers seek to recoup lost revenue from private payers.
Jan
13
