Medicare: Little Progress Made in Targeting Outpatient Therapy Payments to Beneficiaries' Needs

United States. Government Accountability Office.

United States. Government Accountability Office.

关键词: Government accountability -- United States.;    health care;    medicare;    letter report;   

RP-ID  :  GAO-06-59
RP-ID  :  248479

美国|英语

来源: UNT Digital Library

【 摘 要 】

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "For years, Congress has wrestled with rising Medicare costs and improper payments for outpatient therapy services--physical therapy, occupational therapy, and speech-language pathology. In 1997 Congress established per-person spending limits, or "therapy caps," for nonhospital outpatient therapy but, responding to concerns that some beneficiaries need extensive services, has since placed temporary moratoriums on the caps. The current moratorium is set to expire at the end of 2005. The Medicare Prescription Drug, Improvement, and Modernization Act of 2003 required GAO to report on whether available information justifies waiving the caps for particular conditions or diseases. As agreed with the committees of jurisdiction, GAO also assessed the status of the Department of Health and Human Services' (HHS) efforts to develop a needs-based payment policy and whether circumstances leading to the caps have changed."