Improving Medicare quality and efficiency, in order to keep the program solvent for the nearly 10,000 new beneficiaries who turn 65 years old each day,1 has been an ongoing priority for Congress and policy makers. Efforts to improve patient safety and outcomes, while tying payments to quality instead of quantity, have resulted in a seismic shift in the delivery of healthcare.
Yet amid these major changes and cost-cutting improvements, we still see examples of questionable and costly policies that undercut the progress being made elsewhere.