On July 25, 2016, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) announced a proposed rule that promises to deliver coordinated, high-quality care for Medicare beneficiaries. The proposed rule (effective July 1, 2017) establishes a mandatory bundled payment program for cardiac care and expands the existing hip and knee bundled payment initiative that launched earlier this year.
Continue Reading House Republicans Push Back on Medicare’s New Mandatory Bundled Payment Models
OCM
CMS Oncology Care Model Reforming Payment for Beneficiaries with Cancer
By Lynsey Mitchel on
The Center for Medicare & Medicaid Innovation first introduced its Oncology Care Model (OCM) last year. OCM went into effect July 1, 2016, and will run through June 30, 2021. The new multi-payer model is the first CMS physician-led care model aimed at improving cancer treatment for Medicare beneficiaries. CMS hopes to see improvements in care coordination and access, as well as a decrease in unnecessary services and Medicare expenditures. OCM may be an important experiment for Medicare’s initiatives to implement alternative payment models for specialists, but will the rewards be enough to move the dial away from entrenched payment arrangements that reward volume?
Continue Reading CMS Oncology Care Model Reforming Payment for Beneficiaries with Cancer