Impact of Extending Fee Schedule Payments and Coverage Limits
Publication Date: September 01, 2001
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http://www.urban.org/url.cfm?ID=1000312
Medicare spending on Part B rehabilitation services rose 15 percent per year on average in the early and mid-1990s. The 1997 Balanced Budget Act required that the program replace cost-based payments with a fee schedule and apply coverage limits to the services. This study analyzes Part B rehabilitation spending during this period of policy change—1998 to 2000. In 1999 (during fee schedule payments and coverage limits), aggregate and per user payments declined by more than 30 percent. In 2000 (during a coverage limit moratorium) payments rose about 35 percent, placing spending at near-1998 levels. Decompositions of per user payments suggest that up to two-thirds of the 1999 decline was attributable to payment rate reductions, rather than coverage limits. The study also found that provider type is a substantial predictor of annual payments per user, controlling for diagnosis, type of therapy used, payment method, and coverage policy. Published by the Health Care Financing Administration; 2001 September 2001.
Topics/Tags: | Health/Healthcare
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