January 15, 2021 – The Medicare Payment Advisory Commission (MedPAC) has recommended that Congress provide a 2% market-basket update for the hospital inpatient and outpatient prospective payment systems in fiscal year 2022.
MedPAC also recommended using the difference between the update and amount specified in current law to increase hospital payments through its proposed Hospital Value Incentive Program, which would replace the four current hospital quality payment programs with a single alternative program.
Additionally, the commission said it would like for Congress to
- Increase 2022 payment rates for long-term care hospitals by 2%
- Reduce 2022 payment rates for both home health agencies and inpatient rehabilitation facilities by 5%
- Increase the calendar year 2022 Medicare payment rates for physician and other health professional services by the amount specified in current law
- Eliminate the CY 2022 update to the Medicare conversion factor for ambulatory surgical centers, and the Department of Health and Human Services require ASCs to report cost data
- Eliminate the FY 2022 update to Medicare base payment rates for hospice providers
- Eliminate the update for skilled nursing facilities