[Federal Register Volume 59, Number 193 (Thursday, October 6, 1994)]
[Unknown Section]
[Page 0]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 94-24803]
[[Page Unknown]]
[Federal Register: October 6, 1994]
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PHYSICIAN PAYMENT REVIEW COMMISSION
Commission Public Hearing
AGENCY: Physician Payment Review Commission.
ACTION: Topics for Commission Public Hearing.
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SUMMARY: The Commission will hold a public hearing on Monday, November
21, 1994, at the Washington Marriott, 1221 22nd Street NW., Washington,
DC in the Dupont Room. Groups may request to testify on the following
topics from the Commission's work plan:
Health System Issues
The Emerging Market for Health Services
Work on those topics will include documenting changes in the way
that health care is organized, financed, and delivered; drawing out the
implications of these changes; identifying policy options to facilitate
desirable changes and to address problems; and assessing the likely
effects of those options.
Relationships between purchasers (employers; alliances)
and health plans
Relationships between health plans and providers:
--Section and retention of providers by health plans
--Mechanisms through which plans pay physicians
Relationships among providers:
--Integration of medical practice within and across providers
--Network development in rural areas
--Antitrust issues for provider-directed plans
Implications for consumers
Implications for academic medical centers
Role of state regulatory policies
Efforts to ensure quality:
--State quality assurance requirements
--Managed care plans' internal quality assurance systems
Disclosure of health plan information:
--Quality (report cards; how plans and consumers use quality
information)
--Financial arrangements between plans and physicians
Implications for Medicare and Medicaid:
--Potential for access problems
--Potential for adoption of private sector innovations
Structure of Insurance Markets and Potential Reforms
Interrelationships between insurance rules, community
rating, and risk adjustment; principles underlying insurance reform in
the absence of universal coverage
Issues in opening FEHBP to a broader population
Monitoring state-level reforms
Technology Assessment and Coverage Decisions
Consideration of costs in technology assessment and
coverage decisions
Outcomes Research and Practice Guidelines
Update on development and use of practice guidelines
Analysis of issues related to research design for outcomes
and effectiveness studies
Workforce
Follow up on graduate medical education reform proposals
Improving Access for the Poor
Successful models for delivering care to urban undeserved
populations
Development of options for addressing nonfinancial
barriers to care
Expenditures in Medicare and the Private Sector
Analysis of trends
Changes in practice patterns
Causes for slowdown in spending growth
Medicare
Medicare Cuts
Analysis of options
Implications for access
Comments on the President's budget
Medicare Fee Schedule
Five year review of relative work values
Impact of Medicare reforms on physicians and beneficiaries
(preview of work on access and financial liability presented in 1995
annual report)
Effects of changes in Medicare relative values, GPCIs,
conversion factor updates, and other fee schedule changes on the
pattern of paymentVolume Performance Standards
Preparation of report on trends in Medicare expenditures
and recommendations on setting Volume Performance Standards and
updating the Medicare Fee Schedule conversion factors
Beneficiary Access
Preparation of annual report on access drawing on analyses
of Medicare claims data, the Current Beneficiary Survey, the National
Ambulatory Medical Care Survey, and Commission surveys on beneficiary
complaints.
Preparation on annual report on beneficiary financial
liability
Resource-based Practice Expense
Analysis of upcoming results from HCFA microcosting study
Making Medicare User Friendly
Identification of key beneficiary concerns and update of
HCFA efforts to reduce complexity and to facilitate review and
processing of claims
Medicare Risk Contracting
Options for improving the AAPCC and alternative payment
arrangements
Medicare and Other Payers
Use of Medicare relative value scale by Medicaid, private
insurers, and organized health plans
Medicaid
Policy Issues Surrounding Section 1115 Waivers
Please contact Annette Hennessey or Lauren LeRoy at 202-653-7220 no
later than Friday, October 7, 1994 if your group wishes to testify at
the hearing. Groups will be notified by Tuesday, October 11 whether or
not they were chosen to present testimony. If an organization is not
selected to testify, it may submit written testimony for the hearing
record.
Two hundred (200) copies of your organization's testimony or
written statement (including a one-page summary of the most important
points in the testimony) must be submitted to the Commission's office
no later than 5 p.m. on Tuesday, November 8, 1994. Groups submitting
testimony later than 5 p.m. on November 8, 1994, will not be allowed to
testify at the hearing; testimony or written statements received after
the deadline will not be included in the hearing record.
ADDRESSES: Please note that the Commission has a new address: 2120 L
Street, NW., Suite 200, Washington, DC 20037. The telephone number is
the same: 202/653-7220.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTRACT: Lauren LeRoy, Deputy Director, or
Annette Hennessey, Executive Assistant, at 202/653-7220.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Agendas for the hearing will be available on
Friday, November 4, 1994 and will be mailed out at that time. To
receive an agenda, please direct all requests to the receptionist at
202/653-7220.
Paul B. Ginsburg,
Exectuvie Director.
[FR Doc. 94-24803 Filed 10-5-94; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6820-SE-M
