Dive Brief:
- The CMS released Monday its second annual evaluation for Models 2-4 of the Bundled Payments for Care Improvement (BPCI) initiative, which details the results from the first year of the initiative.
- CMS' Dr. Patrick Conway, acting principal deputy administrator and CMO, characterized the early results as encouraging, specifically calling out the results for orthopedic surgery bundles, noting that under Model 2, participating hospitals were shown to have experienced statistically significant savings of $864 per episode while also improving quality.
- On the flip side, the report showed average payments for spinal surgery episodes under BPCI participants increased $3,477 more relative to the increase among comparison providers, indicating mixed results and raising questions that "warrant further investigation."
Dive Insight:
As more data become available over the next year and beyond, upcoming reports will be able to better estimate the BPCI initiative's impacts on both costs and quality. This report, prepared by The Lewin Group, was the second of five planned annual reports. It looked at the experiences of Phase 2 participants in the first year of the initiative, in which episodes were initiated between October 2013 and September 2014. The report's qualitative results reflect participants’ experiences through June 2015, the researchers said, noting that participation has continued to grow since, with more providers entering Phase 2 in April and July 2015.
"The increased sample sizes, as well as extended times under the initiative, will allow us to expand our understanding of the impact of BPCI and strengthen our conclusions about participation under Models 2 and 3," the report said. "Participation in Model 4, however, has dropped, which may reduce what we can say about Model 4 episodes in next year’s report."
Though impact results may not yet be in, the CMS is powering forward with additional bundled payment models proposed in July 2016.