The Balanced Budget Refinement Act of
1999, included a provision that would require the Medicare Payment Advisory
Commission (MedPAC) to study and report on the adequacy and appropriateness of
Medicare’s payment policies for services furnished by various types of
providers located in rural areas. The report, released last year, focused
primarily on payment and other policies in Medicare’s traditional program. In
addition, the study group looked at issues affecting rural beneficiaries’
access to health plans in the Medicare+Choice program.
The report found that although barriers to
getting the medical care they want and need, rural Medicare beneficiaries do
not seem to be measurably disadvantaged compared with urban beneficiaries.
The Commission’s analyses suggested that they are about as likely to get
needed, care, just as satisfied with the care they receive and use about as
much health care, on average, as their urban counterparts, although they found
there were a different mix of services.
The report also found that the rural
health care system is fragile and special care is needed to assure that
Medicare policies do not weaken rural medicine inadvertently and that, where
appropriate, they reflect the special circumstances confronting rural
beneficiaries and providers. The Commission recommended a number of
incremental changes in Medicare that will improve the accuracy of Medicare
payments by recognizing factors such as the volume of services that affect the
costs of providing care in rural area. They went on to say that implementing
these recommendations should improve the financial standing of many rural
providers.
Entire Report:
www.medpac.gov/publications/congressional_reports/Jun01%20Entire%20report.pdf
Testimony before Congress by Glenn
Hackbarth, JD, Chairman, MedPAC June 12, 2001
www.medpac.gov/publications/congressional_testimony/Tst061201W&M_Rural.pdf