MedPAC does not recommend HH update

MedPAC does not recommend HH update

Home health agencies will not receive a payment update in fiscal year 2010, according to payment recommendations submitted to Congress by MedPAC.

Under the recommendations, hospital inpatient and outpatient services will receive a payment update equal to the increase in the market basket index, concurrent with implementing a pay-for-performance program that would be funded in part by a 1-percentage point cut in the indirect medical education adjustment for teaching hospitals.

Long-term care hospitals will receive a full market basket update minus an adjustment for productivity growth, for an estimated 1.6% update. Skilled nursing facilities, inpatient rehabilitation facilities, and home health agencies would not receive a payment update.