Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
New Medicare Primary Care Payment Initiative Designed To Switch Incentives
NPR: Medicare Seeks Savings And Innovation With A Switch In Doctors' Pay
The Obama administration is recruiting as many as 20,000 primary care doctors for an initiative it hopes will change the way physicians get paid and provide care. The program, which was announced Monday, will be run by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. The aim is to stop paying doctors based on the number of billable services and visits provided to Medicare beneficiaries and instead to tie payments to overall patient health and outcomes. (Kodjak, 4/11)
Modern Healthcare: New CMS Primary-Care Payment Model Would Affect 20K Doctors
Provider practices will be able to participate in two ways. In Track 1, the agency will pay a monthly fee to practices that provide specific services. That fee is in addition to the fee-for-service payments under the Medicare Physician Fee Schedule for care. Providers currently perform a service and then submit a claim to Medicare for payment. In Track 2, practices will also receive a monthly care management fee and, instead of full Medicare fee-for-service payments for evaluation and management services, they will receive reduced Medicare fee-for-service payments and up-front comprehensive primary-care payments. This hybrid payment design will allow greater flexibility in how practices deliver care outside of the traditional face-to-face encounter, the agency said. (Dickson, 4/11)
CNN: Medicare Change: 'Perverse' Incentive Or 'Perverse' Reform?
If you have cancer or Crohn's disease, does the doctor give you the best drug to fight that illness, or are you getting the drug that makes your doctor the most money? That's what a proposed pilot program for Medicare is trying to figure out and it's become a political hot potato. (Christensen, 4/11)
CQ Healthbeat: Medicare Announces Major Test For Changing Pay For Primary Care
Medicare officials announced on Monday a major plan to shift primary care for the nation's elderly and disabled toward a more coordinated approach through a large-scale test program. The initiative is part of the Obama administration's bid in its final months for an overhaul of how the federal health program pays for medical services. (Young, 4/11)
