Interim Report Says There is Little Support for Medicare Payments That Vary

An interim report recently issued by the Institute of Medicine concluded Medicare should not adjust payments on a broad regional basis to reward hospitals and doctors that spend less to achieve high-quality care. 

The study was conducted at the request of the secretary of Health and Human Services, Kathleen Sebelius, in response to a push by some members of Congress to revisit how Medicare pays hospitals and doctors. The report’s authors were responding to the argument that Medicare should pay higher levels of reimbursement to areas of the country that deliver measurably good care at low cost and less to regions where costs are high and outcomes are poor. Read more about the study in the New York Times.