Increasing the Value of Medicare

The Medicare Payment Advisory Commission (MedPAC) is an independent federal body established by the Balanced Budget Act of 1997 (P.L. 105-33) to advise the U.S. Congress on issues affecting the Medicare program. In addition to advising the Congress on payments to health plans participating in the Medicare Advantage program and providers in Medicare's traditional fee-for-service program, MedPAC also  analyzes access to care, quality of care, and other issues affecting Medicare.

The Commission's goal is to recommend policies that increase the value of the Medicare program for beneficiaries and taxpayers. This report proposes methods to:

• Increase accountability and care coordination by measuring physician resource use and by developing models of care coordination
   
• Improve pricing accuracy in the hospice and physician payment systems
   
• Improve information gathering through quality measures in home health, outpatient therapy, and by describing the array of offerings in Medicare Advantage and the new Part D prescription drug program, and determining the information beneficiaries are using when evaluating choices in Part D
   
• Explore using cost-effectiveness analysis

In addition to these models, Medicare may consider ways to encourage care coordination through payments within the fee schedule's evaluation and management services.  In previous reports to the Congress, the Commission has also recommended pay-for-performance initiatives for physicians, which could complement care coordination by improving quality.