MedPAC Report to the Congress: Improving Incentives in the Medicare Program

Medicare Payment Advisory Commission (MedPAC). Report to the Congress: Improving Incentives in the Medicare Program. June 2009. [NewsRelease] [Fact Sheet] [Full Report]

MedPAC’s report focuses on how incentives in the Medicare payment systems could be changed to strengthen the Medicare program and promote quality care for Medicare beneficiaries. “To achieve better care coordination and efficiency, Medicare must change the way it pays health care providers,” said Glenn Hackbarth, chair of the Commission. “Current incentives reward volume instead
of value and costly care instead of efficient, effective care. When providers don’t work together, quality suffers and costs increase—which benefits neither the patient nor the Medicare program.”