In support of its proposal that Medicare adopt a unified payment system for post-acute-care services, the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission is exploring how to develop uniform outcome measures to support such a new payment system.

Under the MedPAC vision, articulated at its early April public meeting, skilled nursing facilities, home health agencies, long-term-care hospitals, and inpatient rehabilitation facilities would see their outcomes quantified based on their performance on a series of quality measures.

Meanwhile, there has been little congressional interest in the unified post-acute payment proposal so far.  While some aspects of such a proposal could be implemented administratively, the comprehensive system would require legislation.

Learn more about the Medicare uniform outcomes measures proposal, the unified post-acute care payment proposal, how they interact, and the prospects for both from this article in Provider magazine.