On April 2nd, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) released the Rate Announcement and Call Letter, which propose policy and payment updates for Medicare Advantage (MA) and Part D plans for calendar year 2019. The finalized policy changes are expected to increase revenue to participating plans by 3.40%, up from the 1.84% that was projected in the Advance Notice and draft Call Letter. In addition, CMS expects the underlying coding trend will increase risk scores by an average of 3.1% in 2019.
The attached document summarizes key provisions of the Rate Announcement and Call Letter. The text of the regulation is available here.