Medicare Nursing Facility Pay-for-Performance Act of 2004 - Amends title XVIII (Medicare) of the Social Security Act (SSA) to direct the Secretary of Health and Human Services, through a contract with a qualified independent party (such as the National Quality Forum), to provide for identification of: (1) between ten and 15 quality measures for the performance of skilled nursing facilities under Medicare; and (2) the data to be reported, including their collection and formatting, on a calendar quarter basis for each such quality measure.
Requires the values obtained for quality measures to be appropriately risk-adjusted as applied to individual skilled nursing facilities in order to increase the likelihood that any differences in such values reflect differences in the care provided by the facilities and not differences in the characteristics of their residents.
Provides for: (1) adjusting payments for skilled nursing facilities based on quality performance, including an increase of two percent for facilities in the top ten percent in quality as well as a decrease of one percent for facilities below the quality threshold; (2) limiting market basket increases to facilities that voluntarily report information; and (3) using FY 2005 payment rates as a floor for subsequent updates.
Establishes the Long-Term Care Financing Commission to analyse and report to Congress on the financing of long-term care.