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Physician enrollment for CPC+ begins today: What you need to know
Today marks the beginning of the enrollment period for CMS’ Comprehensive Primary Care Plus program, a new medical home model designed to reform the way primary care is delivered and paid for in select regions across the United States.
The new program, also known as CPC+, will be available in 14 regions, chosen based on payer interest. The selected regions include the states of Arkansas, Colorado, Hawaii, Michigan, Montana, New Jersey, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Rhode Island and Tennessee. Also included are the North Hudson-Capital region in New York, the greater Kansas City area in Kansas and Missouri, northern Kentucky and greater Philadelphia. The enrollment period will run through Sept. 15.
Originally scheduled to begin on July 15, the start of the enrollment was pushed back by CMS officials after opting to extend the deadline for payer proposals from June 1 to June 8.
Listed below is a sampling of the latest news and information on CPC+. Here’s what you need to know:
CMS announced the new program in April, as an expansion of the Comprehensive Primary Care initiative, which will end on Dec. 31, 2016
The new CPC+ model builds on the previous Comprehensive Primary Care program, which launched in late 2012 and was made available to approximately 500 practices in seven markets around the United States. In contrast, CPC+ will be rolled out to 5,000 practices in 20 regions, including 20,000 physicians and clinicians serving 25 million patients. Read more.
Changes physicians will need to make under CPC+ explained
PCPs seeking to enroll in the CPC+ program will be required to make multiple changes during its initial year, affecting various aspects of their practices including care management, Medicare management fees and access to patients. Read more.
AAFP president: CPC+ enrollment will depend on payer participation
As practices prepare to apply to participate in the CPC+ program on July 15, Wanda Filer, MD, MBA, president of the American Academy of Family Physicians, said the first priority will be to find out which payers will be partnering with the new initiative. Read more.
First impressions of CPC+ may be ‘mixed’ due to ‘change fatigue’
Early reactions from family physicians to the CPC+ program have been mixed, with some appearing to suffer from “change fatigue,” according to AAFP President Wanda Filer, MD, MBA. Read more.
Original CPC program ‘transforming’ care delivery, but not yet providing cost savings or improved quality of care
After 2 years, medical practices participating in CPC have yet to show savings in expenditures for Medicare parts A and B after accounting for care-management fees, according to data published in the New England Journal of Medicine. Read more.
Additional reading:
https://innovation.cms.gov/initiatives/comprehensive-primary-care-plus
https://innovation.cms.gov/Files/x/cpcplus-practicecaredlvreqs.pdf