The Medicare Payment Advisory Commission (MedPAC) is an independent Congressional agency established by the Balanced Budget Act of 1997 to advise Congress on issues affecting the Medicare Program, including analyzing access to care, quality of care, and other issues affecting Medicare.
MedPAC released a report to Congress this week, Medicare and the Health Care Delivery System, which examines issues central to the beneficiaries’ experience of the Medicare program. One chapter specifically examines care for beneficiaries in rural areas, including access to care for rural beneficiaries, the quality of the care they receive, special rural payments, and the adequacy of payments for rural provides.
The Commission reported there is little differences in health care service use by Medicare beneficiaries between rural and urban areas, patient satisfaction is similar, there are no major differences in quality between urban and rural providers, and rural hospital payments and financial margins are ample.
Rural health advocates are concerned that inaccuracies in the report could be harmful to rural Americans. We know access to care and inadequate reimbursement rates in rural Colorado and across America are problematic and programs and policies aimed at fixing these issues are crucial and cannot be allowed to expire. A report released in April by iVantage Health Analytics, Inc. (which also used Medicare data), found that Medicare spending is 3.7% less per beneficiary in rural markets than in urban markets, even though this spending includes “special payments” provided to rural hospitals and practitioners. The report found that rural hospitals nationally have equal or better quality outcomes, and cost less per Medicare beneficiary than their urban counterparts confirming rural hospitals and clinics are a good value for patients and for taxpayers.
Rural providers, patients and communities will pay the price if Congress acts based on information found in the MedPAC report, so we need your voice. We need data, stories, and examples to paint the real picture of rural health. CRHC staff will be traveling to Washington, D.C. in July to participate in NRHA’s March for Rural Hospitals and will be meeting with Colorado’s members of Congress. It is our chance to make your voice heard, so please contact Alicia Haywood or Jen Dunn with any questions you might have, as well as any information to illustrate the access and the financial challenges facing rural providers and patients.
