A new report from the US Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General (OIG) revisits a long-standing policy issue: Do Medicare’s global surgery payments reflect the postoperative care that’s actually delivered?
Based on audit findings, OIG concludes that providers are furnishing fewer postoperative visits than the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) assumes, indicating that global surgery payments may not reflect actual clinical practice. However, the report does not address a separate but equally important issue: whether the value assigned to each postoperative visit remains appropriate.
This +Insight reviews OIG’s findings and explores what they may signal for Medicare’s approach to global surgical payment, and why stakeholders may want to monitor developments and consider how best to engage as discussions around this topic continue.
