Medicare reimbursement pays for just 16 percent of all spending on home medical equipment, according to June 2017 Data Book: Health Care Spending and the Medicare Program, a new report from the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission (MedPAC)
The report also shows that DME’s portion of Medicare expenditures is shrinking. In 2005, DME comprised 2 percent of Medicare spending, but in 2015, it only accounted for 1 percent of Medicare outlays.
Another data point shows just how greatly Medicare’s importance as a revenue driver for HME has dropped. In addition to Medicare’s 16 percent share, Medicaid accounted for 15 percent of HME spending, and all other sources, such as private payer and retail sales, represented 68 percent of HME spending.
The 214-page report covers a broad array of data that is supplied to Congress for health policy-making, and can be found at http://bit.ly/2v5jyKm.