MedPAC Pay-Bundle Suggestions Would Hurt Expensive Post-Acute Care Providers

Congressional Medicare advisers recommend several changes to CMS' first mandatory bundled-pay proposal, including letting hospitals choose physicians with whom they would like to arrange gainsharing, giving hospitals some influence over the post-acute care providers that beneficiaries choose, setting bundled prices that discourage the use of long-term care hospitals and inpatient rehabilitation facilities and adjusting quality measures to avoid encouraging providers to use cheaper joint replacements when more expensive replacements are warranted. The proposed Comprehensive Care for Joint Replacement would for...