House Subcommittee Holds Hearings on MedPAC GME Recommendations - July 7, 2010

On June 23, the House Energy and Commerce Health Subcommittee (the "Subcommittee") held a hearing on the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission's ("MedPAC's") June 2010 Report, Aligning Incentives in Medicare. The Subcommittee focused primarily on the report's recommendations for changes to graduate medical education ("GME") financing. In particular, the Subcommittee discussed MedPAC recommendations that one third of payments to teaching hospitals be contingent on meeting certain educational benchmarks.

MedPAC’s chairman, Dr. Glenn Hackbarth, said that this requirement would cut “unjustified costs” in GME payments, and align the payments with requirements to improve institutions’ educational standards. With respect to indirect medical education (IME) payments, several subcommittee members expressed concern about recommendations to reduce such payments, noting that it would adversely affect teaching hospitals that depend on the funds. Hackbarth noted that MedPAC is not recommending a cut in IME support, but rather a redistribution of the money to create incentive payments that foster greater accountability for Medicare dollars. Finally, Hackbarth emphasized MedPAC’s strategy to achieve ethnic and racial diversity in GME programs and its recommendation of performing a study of the mix of specialties that will be needed to treat the U.S. population in the coming years. More information and the session transcript are available online.