Ellison And Walz Introduce Medicare Payment Fairness Act Of 2009

Press Release

Ellison and Walz Introduce Medicare Payment Fairness Act of 2009

Congressman Keith Ellison (D-Minneapolis) and Congressman Tim Walz (D-Mankato) today introduced legislation to reform the Medicare payment system from its current fee-for-service practice. The reforms proposed in the legislation would realign incentives in Medicare for health care providers to provide better care for their patients, rather than simply paying for more care.

"Minnesota is a national leader in providing high quality health care at a lower overall cost," Ellison stated. "Meaningful health care reform requires fundamental changes in how our country pays for health care and I believe that the nation can learn from Minnesota as we tackle health care reform."

The current Medicare reimbursement system is based on the number of procedures completed and the amount of patients seen, often resulting in unnecessary or repeated medical services. Health care providers in Minnesota are some of the most efficient in the country and the state consistently ranks on top nationally in providing high quality care. Recently, The Agency for Health Care Research and Quality ranked Minnesota #1 in providing high quality health care. Similarly, Medicare spending was $6,600 per patient in Minnesota in 2006, ranking near the very bottom (43rdnationally).

"It all boils down to high quality patient care," said Congressman Tim Walz. "Our patients should be getting the best quality care for their money. Yet our current payment system ignores quality and value. It doesn't reward good quality or punish service providers for poor quality care. I don't know any other industry that operates like this. In the health care field, the best thing we can do to lower costs is to reward the providers who keep patients well with high quality care. If we are truly to reform our health care system this is a fundamental change that must be included."

The Medicare Payment Fairness Act of 2009 reforms the Medicare payment structure by adding a value index that rewards regions based on a quality to cost ratio, hence rewarding the value of care over the quantity of procedures. This index applies to both reimbursements for physicians and hospitals in Medicare. This value index proposal draws directly from the work of the Mayo Clinic in Minnesota.

"Now is the time act to provide universal health care for all Americans and Minnesotans," said Ellison. "The Medicare Payment Fairness Act provides one method for our country to reform health care and pay for at the same time."

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