AHA Comments on Proposed MA, Part D Payment Policies for 2019

Commenting today on proposed changes to Medicare Advantage and Part D payment policies for calendar year 2019, AHA voiced strong support for the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services’ proposal to expand the types of supplemental benefits that MA plans can offer to better manage beneficiary health. "We also generally support CMS’s proposals that would allow plans to better prevent opioid misuse and addiction,” wrote AHA Executive Vice President Tom Nickels. “However, we continue to remain concerned about increasing the use of encounter data for purposes of risk adjustment.” Noting that provider data collection efforts were not designed to support MA risk-adjustment calculations, AHA encouraged CMS to reconsider the use of encounter data until issues related to data quality and provider and plan burden are addressed.