MedPAC report focuses on quality, value, and efficiency

MedPAC has released a report focusing on how incentives in the Medicare program can be leveraged to promote quality of care and efficient use of resources. 

In the report, MedPAC recommends making a significant portion of Medicare’s graduate medical education payments contingent on residency programs meeting key educational criteria, such as teaching team-based care, training in ambulatory settings, and measuring quality. This change would better align it with the Commission’s broader goal of delivery system reform.

Other recommendations include independent research on the numbers and types of health professionals that would be needed in a more efficient health system and that HHS publish an annual report itemizing Medicare medical education payments to hospitals.

(Sources: The Advisory Board Daily Briefing, http://advisory.com, June 17, 2010; MedPAC, http://medpac.gov, June 15, 2010)