New initiative focuses on value-based care and other alternative payment models
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services has established a new initiative that would bring together various healthcare stakeholders and focus on transitioning to value-based care and other payment models.
CMS said the Health Care Payment Learning and Action Network would be a public-private partnership. An independent contractor who is not affiliated with CMS will convene meetings and provide support for payers, providers, employers, purchasers, state partners, consumer groups and individuals.
The announcement came a month after Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Sylvia Burwell released a plan to pay providers based on the quality of care they deliver instead of the quantity. HHS wants to move 30 percent of Medicare payments into alternative models by the end of 2016 and 50 percent by the end of 2018.
Alternatives to the typical fee-for-service arrangement include accountable care organizations, bundled payments and advanced primary care medical homes.
For the Health Care Payment Learning and Action Network, a committee will create discuss topics for the participants, who will meet mostly via teleconference and webinar but also in-person in the Washington, D.C. area.
CMS said the Health Care Payment Learning and Action Network would help facilitate new payment models and care delivery, share results and approaches and create guidelines for payers, purchasers, providers and consumers to follow. Participants will agree to support national alternative payment models and measure the progress toward achieving those goals.
Executive Editor
Tim Casey joined TriMed Media Group in 2015 as Executive Editor. For the previous four years, he worked as an editor and writer for HMP Communications, primarily focused on covering managed care issues and reporting from medical and health care conferences. He was also a staff reporter at the Sacramento Bee for more than four years covering professional, college and high school sports. He earned his undergraduate degree in psychology from the University of Notre Dame and his MBA degree from Georgetown University.