The Trump administration on Wednesday proposed overhauling decades-old Medicare rules originally meant to deter fraud and abuse but now seen as a roadblock to coordinating better care for patients.
The rules under revision were intended to counter self-dealing and financial kickbacks among service providers such as hospitals, clinics and doctors.
Those regulations are now seen as an obstacle to progress because Medicare has put a premium on coordination among care providers. The complex requirements of the original rules can have a chilling effect on hospitals and doctors working together, officials say.
A major focus is to try to improve follow-up care for patients after they are discharged from hospitals, an area in which Medicare is increasingly holding hospitals accountable.
Wednesday’s announcement starts a rule-making process expected to take months. The revised regulations run to an estimated 800 pages and will be pored over by lawyers for the health care industry, which has billions of dollars at stake and has been urging changes to the rules. Patient advocates are keenly interested that consumer protections not be weakened.