The Senate Finance Committee and House Ways and Means Committee introduced bipartisan legislation requiring standardized data collection and assessment from post-acute healthcare providers.
The aim of the Improving Medicare Post-Acute Care Transformation Act of 2014 is to allow Medicare to compare quality across different post-acute care settings, improve hospital and post-acute care discharge planning and reform post-acute care payments.
Post-acute care facilities include long-term care hospitals, inpatient rehabilitation facilities and skilled nursing facilities.
"Without the comparable data required under the legislation, policymakers and providers cannot determine whether patients treated and the care provided in different settings is, in fact, the same or whether one PAC setting is more appropriate. Absent this information, it is difficult to move forward with PAC payment reforms," reads a news release issued by the Ways and Means Committee.
The new legislation was introduced by Senate Finance Committee Chairman Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), Ranking Member Orrin Hatch (R-Utah), House Ways and Means Chairman Dave Camp (R-Mich.) and Ranking Member Sandy Levin (D-Mich.).
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