MedPAC Report Details Potential Medicare Payment Improvements

WASHINGTON—As part of its mandate from Congress, each June the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission (MedPAC) reports on potential improvements to Medicare payment systems and issues that affect the Medicare program, including changes to healthcare delivery and the market for healthcare services. 

This year, MedPAC included six chapters in its 2026 Medicare and healthcare delivery report to Congress, covering the following topics:

1. Improving payment incentives in Medicare: MedPAC described incentives in fee-for-service (FFS) Medicare, alternative payment models (APMs) and Medicare Advantage (MA) and challenges in improving them. 
2. The complexity of Medicare enrollment decisions for beneficiaries: MedPAC explored the complex coverage choices that beneficiaries must make during initial and subsequent Medicare enrollment periods, as well as the various resources available to help make those decisions. 
3. Medicare payment operations and their role in identifying improper payments: MedPAC detailed the processes for making payments to Medicare providers and the measures in place to identify and reduce improper payments and fraud. 
4. Estimated association between MA enrollment and hospitals’ and post-acute care providers’ finances: MedPAC examined how changes in MA enrollment are associated with the finances of various health care providers, including hospitals, skilled nursing facilities (SNFs), home health agencies (HHAs) and inpatient rehabilitation facilities (IRFs). 
5. Access to hospice and certain complex palliative services for beneficiaries with end-stage renal disease or cancer. MedPAC described potential approaches to improve the accuracy of Medicare’s hospice payments and address potential concerns about access to certain complex palliative services for hospice beneficiaries. 
6. Mandated report: Assessment of the Medicare Ground Ambulance Data Collection System. MedPAC assessed and analyzed information recently collected by CMS from ground ambulance service providers and recommended the continued collection of such data, though with a more streamlined approach to focus on data essential to assessing the accuracy of Medicare payments and Medicare beneficiaries’ access to care.

For a full breakdown of MedPAC’s report and chapters, visit medpac.gov/document/june-2026-report-to-the-congress-medicare-and-the-health-care-delivery-system.