CMS' primary care initiative generates $24 million in savings

CMS announced that its primary care initiative, authorized by the Affordable Care Act, demonstrated quality results, reduced spending and generated savings in 2014, according to a blog post on the organization's website.

Patrick Conway, MD, MSc, CMS deputy administrator for innovation and quality and chief medical officer, wrote on the CMS blog that the Comprehensive Primary Care (CPC) initiative, which launched in October 2012, yielded $24 million in gross savings overall.

Conway wrote that the results represent 483 practices and more than 2.7 million patients, including about 377,000 patients with Medicare.

"Four of the CPC initiative's seven regions (Arkansas, Colorado, Cincinnati-Dayton region of Ohio, and Oregon) generated gross savings," Conway stated. "The Greater Tulsa region decreased costs in excess of the CPC care management fees, generating net savings of $10.8 million and earning more than $500,000 in shared savings payments."

Additionally, the first shared savings performance year showed hospital readmission rates were lower than targeted, more than 90% of CPC practices achieved quality scores equal or better than national comparisons for patient experience and utilization, and primary care practitioners received high ratings from their patients.

"We are encouraged by the results so far and look forward to seeing the results of our independent evaluation of these practices," Conway wrote. "Our prior experience with primary care demonstrations shows that it takes time for primary care practices to build infrastructure and improve care delivery. These CPC initiative improvements came earlier than expected in a model involving significant changes in the delivery of primary care. We look forward to supporting these innovative practices in their progress as the initiative continues."