The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) has made a series of announcements about Medicare:
1. Payment rates for home health services will increase by 3.3 percent for 2007. The acting administrator for CMS said this increase will “reward home health agencies who continue to report quality data and also provides beneficiaries with access to more affordable oxygen equipment.†(Source)
2. CMS also announced a final rule for Medicare payments for hospital outpatient services for 2007. The agency hopes the rule will make payments more accurate and encourage high quality patient care. (Source)
3. In an effort to improve physician-patient relationships, the Medicare program will pay physicians more for the time they spend talking with Medicare beneficiaries about their health care and will pay for a broader range of preventive services, effective January 1, 2007. Medicare also will expand preventive care benefits. (Source)
