Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
CMS' New Primary Care Initiative Relies On The Simple Concept Of Quality Over Quantity. But Will It Work?
Stat: Primary Care Experiment's Impact Depends On Answers To These Questions
The great hope of the primary care initiative unveiled by the Trump administration this week is that it will finally pay doctors to use technology to stay connected to their patients and intervene before — not after — health problems arise. The concept is simple: Front primary care doctors money to provide high-touch care to keep their patients healthy, instead of paying them to jam their calendars with so many in-person office visits that they can’t respond to emergent problems. (Ross, 4/25)
In other news from CMS —
Modern Healthcare: CMS Invites States To Test New Dual-Eligible Care Models
The CMS is inviting state Medicaid agencies to pursue new ways of integrating care for patients eligible for both Medicare and Medicaid—a population that has complex health needs and accounts for a big portion of spending in both public health programs. In a letter dated Wednesday to state Medicaid directors, CMS Administrator Seema Verma described three new ways states can test approaches to integrating care for dual-eligible patients with the goal of improving the quality of their care and reducing costs for federal and state governments. (Livingston, 4/24)
Modern Healthcare: CMS Backtracks On Requiring EHRs To Track Prescriptions In 2020
The CMS on Tuesday revised its IT efforts that target the opioid epidemic as part of its annual proposed update for the hospital inpatient prospective payment system. The IPPS proposal would update inpatient hospital reimbursements for federal fiscal 2020, which starts in October. Last year's proposal included broad changes for hospital IT, overhauling the Medicare and Medicaid Electronic Health Record Incentive Programs, better known as "meaningful use," to make the programs less burdensome and more patient-centered, according to the agency. Notably, the CMS renamed the programs "Promoting Interoperability" as part of the 2018 announcement. (Cohen, 4/24)
