On March 15, 2019 the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission (MedPAC) released its March 2019 Report to the Congress: Medicare Payment Policy. The MedPAC report recommendations for annual payment rate adjustments (or “updates”) under Medicare’s various fee-for-service payment systems. The report also includes a chapter on incentives for prescribing opioid and non-opioid pain treatment under Medicare’s hospital inpatient and outpatient payment systems.
Also, on March 15th, the Medicaid and CHIP Payment and Access Commission (MACPAC) released its March 2019 Report to Congress on Medicaid and CHIP. The MACPAC report focused on hospital payment policy, specifically disproportionate share hospital (DSH) and upper payment limit (UPL) supplemental payments. The Commission made three recommendations relating to DSH and two recommendations relating to UPL supplemental payments.
