Home Health & Hospice Week

Projections for Medicare spending are going up, and that means you should prepare for your Medicare reimbursement to likely go down as policy- and lawmakers look for places to trim Medicare outlays.

Medicare spending growth is projected to have been 5 percent in 2016 and is expected to average 7.1 percent over the full projection period 2016- 2025, says the CMS Office of the Actuary in a new report published in Health Affairs. “Faster expected growth after 2016 primarily reflects utilization of Medicare covered services increasing to approach rates closer to Medicare’s longer historical experience,” OACT says. “This results in Medicare spending per beneficiary growth of 4.1 percent over 2016-2025 (compared to 1.6 percent growth for 2010-2015).”

See the report at www.cms.gov/Research-Statistics-Data-and-Systems/Statistics-Trends-and-Reports/NationalHealthExpendData/NationalHealthAccountsProjected.html.