Request for Information on Improving Outcomes for Medicare Beneficiaries with Social Risk Factors

The Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS), acting through the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation (ASPE), is evaluating the effect of individuals’ socioeconomic status on quality measures and measures of resource use under the Medicare program. The first product of this effort, a December 2016 Report to Congress: Social Risk Factors and Performance…

MedPAC Report Reviews Key Data, Issues in Hospice

As anticipated in previous reporting, the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission’s (MedPAC’s) 2018 March Report to Congress makes recommendation that Congress provide for no annual percentage update to hospice payments for fiscal year (FY) 2019.  The recommendation, included in Chapter 12 of the report, is based on analysis of beneficiary access to care (including capacity/supply of providers…