Overcoming barriers to new models of care

Physicians are looking to new models of care delivery and payment as a proven means of keeping patients healthier and reducing health care costs. Recent legislation opens the door for new models, and provides funding to physicians who adopt them. But two key barriers still need to be broken down. Changing the way care is delivered and paid for could better enable physicians and their care teams to help keep patients from developing preventable health problems, avoid unnecessary tests and better manage health conditions to prevent hospitalizations, complications or infections. The recently adopted Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act (MACRA)—the legislation that repealed Medicare’s sustainable growth rate (SGR) formula—creates opportunities to advance implementation of alternative payment models. Physicians who reach threshold levels of participation in qualified models from 2019-2024 will receive 5 percent bonus payments each year. What’s standing in the way The AMA worked with Harold Miller at the Center for Healthcare Quality and Payment Reform, a member of the newly appointed Physician-Focused Payment Models Technical Advisory Committee to the federal government, to develop the “Guide to Physician-Focused Alternative Payment Models.” The guide, in addition to describing seven physician-focused alternative payment models, first highlights two common barriers in current payment systems that often stand in the way of implementing necessary change...
Source: AMA Wire - Category: Journals (General) Authors: Source Type: news