On December 19, 2023, Paragon’s Joe Albanese was quoted in Inside Health Policyarticle “AMA To Congress: Use Money NDAA Moved To Medicare Fund To Avoid 2024 Cuts.”
From the article:
However, a Dec. 9 study by Joe Albanese, former program examiner on the Medicare team at the White House Office of Management and Budget and senior policy analyst with conservative think tank Paragon Health Institute, says focusing on inflation is the wrong approach. In a Washington Examiner op-ed, Albanese says that while Medicare physician pay rates are, on average, lower this year than they were 25 years ago, that is by design and Medicare is facing a fiscal sustainability crisis but not an exodus of doctors.
“While maintaining patients’ access to physician services is important, doing so by simply setting payment rates to an external measure of inflation such as the Medicare Economic Index is a flawed approach because it would increase costs and do nothing to ensure the accuracy of payment rates,” the study summary says.
The study suggests reducing overpayments on outpatient hospital services, Part B drugs, clinical laboratory services and durable medical equipment to control Part B spending; changing the physician fee schedule by incorporating market-based pricing and strengthening budget-neutrality; and eliminating or significantly reforming the Merit-Based Incentive Payment System and “financial enticements” to participate in alternative payment models.
