Facts about the Medicare Program Problems oeding year. to a fixed percentage cap, an Source of data is controlled It is the Secretary who de- Remedies A proper mix of all charge s Federal guidelines require different coding terminology plus surers to divulge the data, have (Study shows Drs. charged non Medicare patients more than they charged Medicare patients.) Data Gathering. Statute provides that prevailing charge is to be determined on July 1st through use of charge data from previous calendar year. Data is outdated by the time it's used. It varies in age from 1/2 to 1 years on July 1st, and by its end on the following June 30th, data is up to 2 years old. This is a single nationwide index as determined by Secy. lative history for single nation- Congress could presaure DHHS wide index. In fact, legisl. history shows that Congress wanted use of several economic indexes. into setting inflationary cap at a level commensurate with actual health care cost inflation rate. |