MedPAC: Recommends Hospital & Physician Payment Updates

By Health Capital Consultants, LLC

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MedPAC Recommends Hospital & Physician Payment Updates

During its January 2025 meeting, the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission (MedPAC) reviewed and endorsed recommendations for Medicare payment reform and updates. Among other decisions, the commission recommended revisions to the annual Medicare Physician Fee Schedule (MPFS) update methodology and increased pay rates to hospitals under the Inpatient Prospective Payment System (IPPS).

This Health Capital Topics article reviews MedPAC’s recommendations, responses from industry stakeholders, and the likelihood that the commission’s recommendations will be enacted by Congress. (Read more…)

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MPFS Final Rule Cuts Physician Payments [Will it Last?]

By Health Capital Consultants, LLC

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On November 1, 2024, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) released its finalized Medicare Physician Fee Schedule (MPFS) for calendar year (CY) 2025, aiming “to strengthen primary care, expand access to preventive services, and further access to whole-person care.” While the finalized fee schedule cuts payments to physicians, Congress is considering legislation to override the cut.

This Health Capital Topics article discusses the provisions contained in the MPFS final rule, as well as the proposed “doc fix” legislation. (Read more…)

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PHYSICIAN PAYMENTS: The Financial Compensation Battle Continues

By Staff Reporters

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Paying paying doctors and medical providers for their services may seem simple on the surface, but it’s actually extremely complex. Enter two of the most commonly heard phrases in healthcare: “fee-for-service” and “value-based care,” two models insurers use to decide how much to pay providers. According to Healthcare Brew:

  1. Under a fee-for-service model, providers are paid for each individual service they perform, like a blood test or an X-ray, according to Jennifer Clawson, partner and director of value-based health systems at Boston Consulting Group. A service is provided, and the doctor gets a fixed fee for providing it. Simple enough.
  2. The value-based care model is a bit more complicated, as there are many types of value-based payments. What makes them “value-based” is that payers take patient outcomes into consideration, aka they consider the relative value. “The core of value-based care is ultimately, ‘How do I get a better outcome for less money?’” said Sam Hendler, managing director at private equity firm Thomas H. Lee Partners.

One type of value-based payment is called a bundled payment, Clawson said. Say you have a heart condition and need to get a stent put in. There are usually several providers involved in that process, e.g., a primary care doctor, cardiac surgeon, and anesthesiologist. An insurer gives the health system a set amount of money to cover everyone involved in the procedure, and the health system decides how to divvy it up.

Another type of value-based payment is called capitation, and there’s multiple types of capitation payments. It’s sort of like a bundled payment, but instead of insurers paying a set amount per procedure, they’re paying a set amount to cover an entire population of patients with a specific disease, like diabetes.

CITE: https://www.r2library.com/Resource/Title/082610254

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PODCAST: Medicare Provider Payment Changes

By Eric Bricker MD

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) Announce Changes to Doctor and Healthcare Provider Payments

CITE: https://www.r2library.com/Resource/Title/082610254

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PODCAST Related Medical Payments: https://medicalexecutivepost.com/2021/10/01/podcast-on-medicare-payments-to-doctors/

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