Dive Brief:
- CMS recently released two FAQ sheets on the Comprehensive Primary Care Plus (CPC+) initiative.
- In one sheet, CMS clarified it will offer primary care physicians no-risk contracts to spur insurer interesting, Modern Healthcare reported.
- In addition, CMS acting Administrator Andy Slavitt announced via Twitter that ACOs would be allowed to participate in the initiative. The FAQ sheet for that was posted May 27.
Dive Insight:
Last Friday, Slavitt stated via Twitter:
GOOD NEWS: Choose a Medical home? Choose an ACO? Why choose? Just announced with CPC+, you can do both. Good feedback and a quick response.
— Andy Slavitt (@ASlavitt) May 27, 2016
"CMS heard the voices of primary care physicians who want to step up to accountability for their patients, and are in the best situation of anyone in healthcare to do so. By permitting these practices to receive the extra resources and flexibility they need through the CPC+ demonstration, CMS has taken a big step towards better care, better health, and smarter spending," stated Farzad Mostashari, Aledade CEO and co-founder.
The CPC+ model, announced in April, will be rolled out in up to 20 regions and can accommodate up to 5,000 practices, encompassing more than 20,000 providers.
The initiative is designed to provide doctors the freedom to care for their patients the way they think will deliver the best outcomes and to pay them for achieving results and improving care.
Primary care practices will participate in one of two tracks. In Track 1, CMS will pay practices a monthly care management fee in addition to the fee-for-service payments under the Medicare Physician Fee Schedule for activities. In Track 2, practices will also receive a monthly care management fee and a hybrid of reduced Medicare fee-for-service payments and up-front comprehensive primary care payments for those services.
The determined regions have not been identified at this time.