The Medicare Payment Advisory Commission Dec. 4 and 5 discussed draft payment update recommendations for 2027, which the commission will vote on in January. The draft recommendations call for Congress to update Medicare payment rates for hospital inpatient and outpatient services by the current law amount and transition to a safety-net index policy to distribute an additional $1 billion to safety-net hospitals.

They also propose that Congress update 2027 Medicare base payments for physicians and other health professional services by 0.5% more than current law. In addition, the commission proposes to reduce the 2027 payment rate for inpatient rehabilitation facilities by 7%, home health agencies by 7% and skilled nursing facilities by 4%.

Additionally, the commission discussed improvements to Medicare’s payment approaches, post-acute trends and ground ambulance data collection.