Direct Primary Care Coalition
Direct Primary Care (DPC) is an innovative alternative payment model improving access to high functioning healthcare with a simple, flat, affordable membership fee. No fee-for-service payments. No third party billing. The defining element of DPC is an enduring and trusting relationship between a patient and his or her primary care provider.
https://www.dpcare.org
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Feedback on New Direction Request for Information (RFI) Released, CMS Innovation Center’s Market-Driven Reforms to Focus on Patient-Centered Care
CMS.gov, April 23, 2018
Today, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) announced that it has released the comments submitted by patients, clinicians, innovators, and others in response to the CMS Innovation Center’s New Direction Request for Information (RFI). Last fall, CMS released the RFI to collect ideas on a new direction for the agency’s Innovation Center to promote patient-centered care and test market driven reforms that: empower beneficiaries as consumers, provide price transparency, increase choices and competition to drive quality, reduce costs, and improve outcomes. The Innovation Center is a central focus of the Administration’s efforts to accelerate the move from a healthcare system that pays for volume to one that pays for value and encourages provider innovation.
CMS is sharing the feedback received to promote transparency and facilitate further discussion of how to move the Innovation Center in a new direction.
Today, CMS is also taking a next step to develop a potential model in the area of direct provider contracting, informed in part by the RFI. A direct provider contract model would allow providers to take further accountability for the cost and quality of a designated population in order to drive better beneficiary outcomes. Such a model would have the potential to enhance the doctor-patient relationship by eliminating administrative burden for clinicians and providing increased flexibility to provide the high-quality care that is most appropriate for their patients, thus improving quality while reducing expenditures.
As part of its process to gain further insight from the public in this area and ask more focused questions, CMS is issuing a follow up RFI. The information being requested is detailed in nature and is intended to provide CMS the data needed to potentially design and release a model in this area. CMS is excited to continue to evaluate the concept of direct provider contracting and is also focusing its attention on other areas guided by input and feedback from the New Direction RFI as well as the public.
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Direct Provider Contracting Models – Request for Information
CMS.gov
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) is seeking broad input on direct provider contracting (DPC) between payers and primary care or multi-specialty groups to inform potential testing of a DPC model within the Medicare fee-for-service (FFS) program (Medicare Parts A and B), Medicare Advantage program (Medicare Part C), and Medicaid.
A DPC model would aim to enhance the beneficiary-physician relationship by providing a platform for physician group practices to provide flexible, accessible, and high quality care to beneficiaries that have actively chosen this type of care model.
The public is encouraged to provide feedback on their experiences with, and perspectives on, DPC and how CMS can use DPC models to reduce expenditures and preserve or enhance the quality of care for Medicare, Medicaid, and Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) beneficiaries.
Please submit your comments to the CMS Innovation Center at DPC@cms.hhs.gov through 11:59pm EDT May 25, 2018.
Request for Information on Direct Provider Contracting Models (9 pages):
https://innovation.cms.gov…
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Comment:
By Don McCanne, M.D.
This CMS notice is important. CMS is requesting public input on factors that should be considered in including a direct primary care model (DPC) in traditional FFS Medicare, Medicare Advantage, Medicaid, and CHIP.
DPC is a model in which a retainer (membership fee) is paid by a patient to a primary care provider to cover all included primary care services. No insurer or third party payer is involved although it is usually recommended that the patient obtain catastrophic (high deductible) insurance for expensive, specialized care beyond what would be provided in a primary care practice.
From the physician’s perspective, DPC eliminates controls on fees, whether by a government program or commercial insurance. The physician does not contract with an insurer, does not bill an insurer, and does not accept any limitations demanded by an insurer. From the patient’s perspective, direct access to the primary care professional is supposedly much more readily available.
Keep in mind that today’s high deductible health plans are quite expensive; the premium added to a significant retainer fee would not be affordable for the majority. The RFI will be important for the government to design its portion of a retainer fee plus costs of catastrophic insurance that it will pay for with Medicare or with the other government programs.
Also note that the retainer is a form of capitation rather than fee-for-service. For individual physicians or small groups, capitation poses a risk should the practice attract a larger percentage of patients with chronic diseases.
In the request for information (RFI) on DPC, CMS states that the goal of DPC would be to reduce expenditures (presumably for the government) while maintaining quality. Since government programs already pay less than commercial insurance, the prospect of further reductions in payments (inadequate retainer fee) should raise alarms for health care professionals.
But what should be even more alarming is that CMS states that DPC incorporated into the public programs would eliminate the administrative burden and provide increased flexibility in the provision of care. Their RFI suggests that, under this model, a retainer could be provided in which the primary care professional will bear all upside and downside risk in an environment with greatly reduced regulatory oversight. In a program designed to reduce spending, you can be sure that patients with greater health care needs – downside risk – would be avoided, shifting those patients to what is left of the traditional, taxpayer-funded Medicare program. And reduced oversight? The temptation would be very great to market a comfy, patient-friendly practice environment while remaining silent on more costly primary care services that are not being provided.
This obviously represents an attempt of the administration to decrease the role of the government as a payer and a regulator. This program, driven by conservative ideology, poses a great hazard to our traditional government health programs, especially Medicare.
Everyone who cares should look at the nine page RFI (last link above) and consider submitting a response, or, even better, have your various professional or advocacy organizations submit a formal response. Deadline is May 28, 2018.
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