Dive Brief:
- Last week, CMS announced the availability of new funds for the Initiative to Reduce Avoidable Hospitalizations among Nursing Facility Residents.
- Since 2013, the agency has partnered with seven Enhanced Care and Coordination Providers (ECCP) to test a model to improve care for long-stay nursing facility residents.
- The new four-year payment phase will begin in October 2016.
Dive Insight:
The new funding opportunity will allow organizations participating in the intiative to apply to test a new payment model. The model will determine whether nursing facilities and practitioners will reduce avoidable hospitalizations, lower Medicare and Medicaid spending, and improve the quality of care received by nursing facility residents.
“By aligning financial incentives, we can improve the quality of on-site care in nursing facilities and the assessment and management of conditions that too often now lead to unnecessary and costly hospitalizations," said Tim Engelhardt, Director of the Medicare Medicaid Coordination Office.
Successful ECCP applicants would implement the payment model with both their existing partner facilities and in a comparable number of newly recruited facilities, CMS stated in a press release.