AHA to committee: 'Now is not the time for a flawed PAC VBP program'

Changes to the Medicare Post-Acute Care Value-Based Purchasing Act (H.R. 3298) do not go far enough to address the underlying problems with the legislation, AHA today told the bill’s sponsors, Ways and Means Committee Chairman Kevin Brady (R-TX) and Rep. Ron Kind (D-WI). “Without a more balanced, budget-neutral approach that includes a broader set of valid, reliable quality measures, the PAC VBP program appears to function as a mechanism to reduce overall provider payments in perpetuity, rather than as a way to promote value,” wrote AHA. The legislation would withhold 5% of PAC payments in fiscal year 2020 and beyond, retaining up to half of the reduction as Medicare savings, and use only the Medicare Spending per Beneficiary and functional status measures to evaluate performance, among other concerns. “Until we have access to reliable, well validated data from the IMPACT Act, moving forward with a PAC VBP program would be premature,” AHA said. Given the magnitude of other recent payment reductions and requirements for PAC providers, the association said “now is not the time for a flawed PAC VBP program.”