“CMS Tries to Flush ‘Sick Creep’ Out of Medicare Advantage Rates”

“CMS Tries to Flush ‘Sick Creep’ Out of Medicare Advantage Rates,” by Allison Bell, ThinkAdvisor

“Officials at the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) are trying to squeeze what they say is unjustified risk score inflation out of the Medicare Advantage program in 2019.

CMS officials have included a 2.26% risk score “normalization” factor in their advance notice for the Medicare Advantage program bidding process for 2019.”

LTC Comment (from Stephen A. Moses, President, Center for Long-Term Care Reform):

The article concludes: “But the addition of the risk score normalization factor could reduce the ‘expected average change in revenue’ to 1.84%, from 2.75% for 2018.” The proposed 1.84% bump in federal revenue for MA in 2019 was widely reported, but this is the first explanation I’ve seen of why it is so low.

CMS Tries to Flush ‘Sick Creep’ Out of Medicare Advantage Rates

#cms
#medicare
#goldencareagent