On January 6, 2014, MedPAC voted that Congress should direct the Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS) to:
- Reduce or eliminate the differences in payment rates between outpatient departments and physicians’ offices for selected ambulatory payment classifications (APCs);
- Set LTCH base payment rates for non-chronically critically ill (CCI) cases equal to those of acute care hospitals, and redistribute savings to create additional inpatient outlier payments for CCI cases in IPPS hospitals. The change should be phased in over a three-year period from 2015 to 2017; and
- Increase payment rates for the acute care hospital inpatient and outpatient prospective payment systems in 2015 by 3.25 percent concurrent with the change to the outpatient payment system discussed above and with initiating the change to the long-term care hospital payment system."
MedPAC Report on Medicare Equal Payment Across Settings: links to articles
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/06/15/health/medicare-panel-urges-cuts-to-hospital-payments-for-services-doctors-offer-for-less.html?ref=health&_r=0
http://online.wsj.com/article/PR-CO-20130618-907671.html?mod=googlenews_wsj
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Public transcript - MedPac, October 4, 2012
ASN Response to 2012 GAO Report:
"Higher Use of Advanced Imaging Services by Providers
Who Self-Refer Costing Medicare Millions"
A 2012 GAO report commissioned by Sens. Max Baucus (D-Mont.)
and Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), and Reps. Henry Waxman (D-Calif.),
Sander Levin (D-Mich.), and Pete Stark (D-Calif.).
Read more
Video: Hospitals: The cost of admission (CNN - December 2, 2012)
Appropriate Use of Advanced Imaging Services by
Providers Who Self-Refer is Saving Medicare Billions
- Hutchinson, et al, Journal of Neuroimaging, 2013, Volume 23 (1): 159-161
