The Medicare Payment Advisory Committee (MedPAC) voted last week and unanimously recommended a five percent payment reduction for inpatient rehabilitation facilities (IRFs), skilled nursing facilities (SNFs), and home health agencies (HHAs). There was no additional feedback provided with this recommendation; however, additional information should be provided in their upcoming March 2022 report to Congress.

Also worth noting was that MedPAC discussed its mandated report related to designing a value incentive program (VIP) for post-acute care (PAC). This report is required under the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2021, and this was the commission’s second session dedicated to development of the PAC VIP. The report is due to Congress by March 15, 2022. Due to the limited time to develop the report, MedPAC asserted it would not be making a formal recommendation in the March Report to Congress. Also during this session, MedPAC shared its plan to submit its separate report on a unified post-acute care payment prototype to Congress in 2023.