Medicare Payment Policy

FIguRe
FIGURE
Program spending (in billions)
8–3
7-5
$35
$30
$25
$20
$15
$10
$5
overpayments in Overpayments...
2011 sparked
spike in program spending on snFs
Note: SNF (skilled nursing facility), FFS (fee-for-service). Data for 2012 are
estimates.
Source: CMS, Office of the Actuary, 2012.
Spending per
FFS beneficiary
Program spending
10 percent of freestanding facilities furnished relatively
low-cost, high-quality care and had substantial Medicare
margins over three consecutive years. 20 Note: Note and Source in InDesign. Compared with
the average, relatively efficient SNFs had costs per day
that were 10 percent lower (adjusted for differences
in wages and case mix), quality measures that were
considerably better (17 percent lower rehospitalization
rates and 38 Notes percent higher about community this graph: discharge rates),
and Medicare margins of 22 percent (Medicare Payment
Advisory Commission • I did this 2012). all manually, MA plans’ since payments, it has which two axes.
were considerably lower than Medicare’s FFS payments,
are unlikely to be explained by differences in patient mix.
trends in spending and cost growth
In 2012, the Office of the Actuary projects program FFS
spending for SNF services to be $30.4 billion (Figure
8-3). In 2011, payments were unusually high because the
rates included an adjustment for implementation of the
new case-mix classification system. Once 2011 data were
available, it became clear the adjustment was too large and
the resulting payment rates had been set too high. Thus,
CMS revised the adjustment downward in 2012, putting
spending back in line with previous trends. After the
reductions, 2012 rates were 3.7 percent higher than those
in 2010. Even though rates were lowered, total spending
0
Note: Note and Source in InDesign.
172 Skilled nursing facility services: Assessing payment adequacy and updating payments
$900
$800
$700
$600
$500
$400
$300
$200
$100
$0
$0
2000 2002 2004 2006 2008 2010 2012
Spending per FFS beneficiary
in 2012 was projected to be 12 percent higher than it was
in 2010. On a per FFS beneficiary basis, spending in 2011
was $871.
Between 1999 and 2011, the cumulative increase in cost
35
per day (49 percent) outpaced the market basket updates.
30 Payments rose far faster than either of these (84 percent),
reflecting changes in the provision of therapy that resulted
25 in more days classified as higher payment case-mix groups
(Figure 8-4).
20
snF Medicare margins continue to grow
15
The Medicare margin is a key measure of the adequacy of
the program’s payments because it compares Medicare’s
10
payments with costs to treat beneficiaries. An all-payer
5 total margin, in contrast, reflects the financial performance
of the entire facility across all lines of business (such as
0 ancillary and therapy services, hospice, and home health
care) and all payers. Total margins are presented as context
for the Commission’s update recommendation.
Because Medicare cost reports were not available to
conduct our margin analysis for 2011, we estimated a
range of margins for that year. We modeled revenues for
FIguRe FIGURE
Cumulative percent change
8–4 7-4
90
80
70
60
50
40
30
20
10
0
-10
1999
Note: *Estimated.
Cumulative change...
Cumulative change in payments
per day, costs per day, and market
basket update since 1999
Payment per day
Cost per day
Market basket
30
25
20
2001
15
2003
2005
2007
2009
2011*
Source: MedPAC analysis 10 of freestanding skilled nursing facility Medicare cost
reports from 1999 to 2010, estimates of 2011 revenues and costs, and
Federal Register final rules for skilled nursing facility services for fiscal
years 1999 to 52011.