Paulsen introduces bipartisan bill to streamline, improve Medicare payment programs

Bipartisan legislation introduced by U.S. Rep. Erik Paulsen (R-MN) on Monday would streamline hospital payment programs under Medicare and take steps to improve care for Medicare beneficiaries.

The Hospital Outcomes Act, H.R.6274, would replace Medicare’s current penalty-driven payment system with a comprehensive payment system that rewards positive outcomes.

“The current payment programs at our hospitals are too complicated, overly burdensome and ineffective,” Paulsen said. “There are efforts are under way across the country, including in Minnesota, that are making the health care system more efficient and helping patients. We should take the lessons from what is working and apply them to the Medicare program, so that we can lower costs, improve outcomes, and reduce the administrative burden for hospitals and providers.”

Minnesota’s Reducing Avoidable Readmissions Effectively (RARE) Campaign, which served as a model for the bill, has reduced avoidable hospital readmissions by 20 percent, saving millions of dollars in health care expenses.

Lawrence Massa, the president and CEO of the Minnesota Hospital Association (MHA), said that he is looking forward to working with Paulsen and bill cosponsors U.S. Reps. Ron Kind (D-WI) and Kenny Marchant (R-TX).

“MHA members appreciate Congressman Paulsen’s hard work to improve health care through changes to the payment system that reward high-quality, low-cost providers,” Massa said.

Michael Vale, the executive vice president at 3M Health Care, said that a value-based payment policy would incentivize quality and efficiency in the health care system.

“At 3M, we continuously work to improve health care outcomes and quality for our employees, our customers, and patients,” Vale said. “We commend Congressmen Erik Paulsen, Ron Kind and Kenny Marchant for crafting legislation based on what is working across the country to truly and significantly improve patient care.”