MedPAC: Raise, and also lower, Medicare reimbursements to hospitals

Subscription news services covered MedPAC's mixed recommendation.

Modern Healthcare: MedPAC Seeks 1% Increase For Hospital Services
Medicare payments for hospitals' inpatient and outpatient services should increase 1%, Medicare's advisory panel recommended Thursday, while pay for evaluation and management in hospitals' outpatient facilities should drop to the amount provided to physicians' offices for such services. The Medicare Payment Advisory Commission voted 16-1 to recommend the 1% update for inpatient and outpatient hospital services for 2013 (Daly, 1/12).

Politico Pro: MedPAC Backs Change In Hospital Payments
[The recommendation overall would] reduce Medicare hospital payments by about $10 billion over the next 10 years. ... MedPAC will forward the recommendation to Congress later this year. ... Under the recommendation, the new payment policy would be phased in over three years, and hospitals that treat a disproportionate share of low-income patients would see a lower reduction (DoBias, 1/12).

CQ HealthBeat: MedPAC Recommends 1 Percent Hospital Payments Hike, Equalize Evaluation And Management Reimbursements
The recommendation was one of a series approved at the panel's Thursday meeting affecting other types of providers as well (Reichard, 1/12).