title: Medicare's post-acute care payment: a review of the issues and policy proposals.
abstract: Medicare spending on post-acute care provided by skilled nursing facility providers, home health providers, inpatient rehabilitation facility providers, and long-term care hospitals has grown rapidly in the past several years. The Medicare Payment Advisory Commission and others have noted several long-standing problems with the payment systems for post-acute care and have suggested refinements to Medicare's post-acute care payment systems that are intended to encourage the delivery of appropriate care in the right setting for a patient's condition. The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2010 contained several provisions that affect the Medicare program's post-acute care payment systems and also includes broader payment reforms, such as bundled payment models. This issue brief describes Medicare's payment systems for post-acute care providers, evidence of problems that have been identified with the payment systems, and policies that have been proposed or enacted to remedy those problems.
authors.affiliation: National Health Policy Forum, The George Washington University, Washington, D.C., USA.
authors.forename: Kathryn
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Linehan
mesh_terms: D003695:Delivery of Health Care; D005544:Forecasting; D018166:Health Care Reform / Q000191:economics* / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence; D006699:Home Care Services / Q000191:economics; D006765:Hospitals, Convalescent / Q000191:economics; D006801:Humans; D006278:Medicare / Q000191:economics* / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence / Q000639:trends; D020406:Medicare Payment Advisory Commission; D058991:Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act; D012047:Rehabilitation Centers / Q000191:economics; D012051:Reimbursement Mechanisms / Q000191:economics* / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence / Q000639:trends; D012866:Skilled Nursing Facilities / Q000191:economics; D019467:Subacute Care / Q000191:economics; D014481:United States