MedPAC will recommend site-neutral payments, but not for strokes

The Medicare Payment Advisory Commission finalized its recommendations for the skilled nursing industry on Thursday, keeping with an earlier proposal that would stick the industry with market basket cuts and a revised prospective payment system.

The advisory panel used its final meeting of 2016 to recommend the elimination of market basket updates for the sector once again, this time for fiscal years 2018 and 2019. The group also urged health officials to revise the PPS for the skilled nursing industry, and deliver a report to Congress in 2020 on the outcomes of the updated system.

MedPAC hasn’t called for a payment increase for skilled nursing providers since 2008, according to Bloomberg BNA. The level of Medicare payments received by the sector have remained “too high,” according to the panel.

Across the post-acute spectrum the group’s recommendations also include deletion of market basket updates for long-term care hospitals and hospice providers, as well as pay cuts for inpatient rehabilitation facilities.

The panel’s newly approved recommendations will be published in a report to Congress that is typically presented to legislators in March.