Pardon Our Dust
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FFS Sectors addressed:
- Inpatient and outpatient hospitals
- Physicians and other health professionals
- Ambulatory surgical centers (ASCs)
- Outpatient dialysis
- Skilled nursing facilities (SNFs)
- Home health agencies
- Inpatient rehabilitation facilities
- Long-term care hospitals
- Hospice
MA Part C recommendations:
- The Congress should direct the Secretary to determine payments for employer-group Medicare Advantage plans in a manner more consistent with the determination of payments for comparable non-employer group plans.
- The Congress should include the Medicare hospice benefit in the Medicare Advantage benefits package beginning 2016
- MA Part C recommendations:
Medicare Part D prescription drug program status:
- In 2013, about 68 percent of Medicare beneficiaries (over 35 million beneficiaries) were enrolled in Part D plans. An additional 6 percent received their drug coverage through employer-sponsored plans that receive Medicare’s retiree drug subsidy. Among Part D plan enrollees, 11.2 million individuals (about 32 percent) received the low-income subsidy (LIS).
- About 64 percent of Part D enrollees are in stand-alone prescription drug plans (PDPs); the rest are in Medicare Advantage-Prescription Drug plans (MA-PDs).
- The number of plan offerings remained stable between 2013 and 2014, with a modest increase in PDP offerings and slightly fewer MA-PDs. Beneficiaries will continue to have between 28 and 39 PDPs to choose from in their region, depending on where they live, along with many MA-PDs.
For a full summary, or to view the full report, please visit http://medpac.gov.
In addition, on March 6-7, 2014, MedPAC met to discuss select policy initiatives. The March MedPAC meeting was divided into six sessions. For more details, download our summary.
If you have any questions, please contact Stephanie Kennan, Senior Vice President, or Brian Looser, Assistant Vice President, at McGuireWoods Consulting.
Founded in 1998, McGuireWoods Consulting LLC (MWC) is a full-service public affairs firm offering infrastructure and economic development, strategic communications & grassroots, and government relations services. McGuireWoods Consulting is a subsidiary of theMcGuireWoods law firm and has been named in The National Law Journal‘s special annual report, “The Influence 50,” for the past several years. In the most recent report, McGuireWoods Consulting was ranked 12th of the 1,900 government relations firms in Washington, D.C.
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