Article archive / September 1, 2016
Originally published: . Volume 7, No. 9. Source pages: 4.
The CMS (Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services) is trying to recruit up to 5000 primary care practices with as many as 20,000 clinicians who will treat 25 million patients. These clinicians will not be limited to beneficiaries of traditional Medicare and so CMS is partnering with private insurers, state Medicaid programs, and Medicare Advantage plans. All involved will agree to adopt the same standards for payment, data sharing, and quality, said a report from Medscape, written by Robert Lowes. The offer includes 14 regions, including all of Arkansas, Tennessee, Oklahoma, and others, but not Louisiana. The new model pays $15 per beneficiary per month for care coordination in addition to normal fees, and aims to reduce hospital readmissions.
In a related story, Medicare proposed three new bundled payment approaches for cardiac and orthopedic care that are mandatory, for hospitals in certain geographic areas. Medical societies are worried that the move away from voluntary models is bad news and is a “hard turn.” President of the American Association for Thoracic Surgery, Thoralf Sundt, MD, said, the government is “getting pushy.”
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