MedPAC June Report to Congress Recommends More Bundling of Payments

Home health agencies and other post-acute providers can look for more pressure from MedPAC regarding bundling of payments.  CMS has several model demonstration projects related to bundling currently in progress.  CMS Model 2 bundles inpatient stay with post-acute care and readmissions.  CMS Model 3 bundles post-acute care and readmissions.  Both models are currently under the no risk portion of the demonstration program.  They will move to the at risk portion in October of 2013.  Once providers begin the risk portion of the program, CMS will provide a reward for savings compared to their set targets, but they will require repayment if the cost are above their targets.  CMS also expects the providers to discount their normal reimbursement by either two or three percent depending on the program. 

We believe that MedPAC and CMS will continue to push the bundling programs over the next few years to reduce the overall cost to Medicare.  This will continue to squeeze the Medicare payments for all providers.  To succeed all Medicare providers must carefully monitor cost along with clinical documentation. 

For more information please utilize the following link:

http://www.medpac.gov/documents/Jun13_EntireReport.pdf