Information Requirements for Evaluating the Impacts of Medicare Prospective Payment on Post-Hospital Long-Term Services: Preliminary Report

In response to a congressional request, GAO provided a preliminary report on the study of information needed to assess the impacts of the Medicare prospective payment system (PPS) on post-hospital, long-term care. PPS, which is a reimbursement system based on fixed payments for diagnosis-related groups, provides hospitals with incentives to limit costs incurred for Medicare patients by carefully controlling the amount of services provided or limiting the length of stay or both.