AHA to Congress: Too soon to commit to one post-acute bundled payment approach

When it comes to bundling payments for post-acute care, now is the time for testing and learning rather than adoption and implementation, AHA told the House Energy & Commerce Health Subcommittee today in a statement submitted for a hearing on the Bundling and Coordinating Post-Acute Care Act (H.R. 1458). “The AHA agrees that several key elements of BACPAC are a step in the right direction,” the association wrote. “However, we also have concerns with the bill, which include its potential to preempt valuable work already undertaken in this area; its reliance on the ‘Continuity Assessment Record and Evaluation Tool’ as a patient assessment instrument; and its inappropriate adjustment for readmissions....Overall, the AHA believes it would be most productive to allow the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services to focus on completing its work on bundled payment under the [Bundled Payments for Care Improvement] initiative, which is well underway, before committing to a particular bundled payment approach for post-acute care.”