H.R. ___, the “Bundling and Coordinating Post-Acute Care Act of 2014”

This bill, offered by Rep. David McKinley (R-WV), creates a new Section 1866F of the Social Security Act to establish a new post-acute care bundled payment system for services otherwise paid for by both Medicare Parts A and B, beginning in 2016. The bundled payment would cover post-acute services within 90 days of hospital discharge and would exclude physician services, outpatient hospital and therapy services, and hospice care.  Payments would be adjusted for geographic variations in cost and patient risk factors as determined by a common patient assessment tool.

The bill also creates a new entity, a PAC Coordinator, that would receive the Medicare PAC payment for each beneficiary and distribute payments and potential savings across providers within their network.  Finally, the bill also waives several standing Medicare PAC payment requirements such as the 3-day hospital stay requirement for skilled nursing facility admission and the “homebound” requirement for home health services.