500 Practices Work to Strengthen Primary Care

In a partnership to strengthen primary care, 500 practices were picked by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) to participate in the Comprehensive Primary Care Initiative (CPCI)

Through CPCI, CMS will pay the primary care practices a fee to support enhanced, coordinated services on behalf of Medicare fee-for-service beneficiaries. The partnership will take place over four years and represents over 2,000 primary care doctors and nurse practitioners in seven markers across the U.S.

Medicare will work with commercial and State health insurance plans and offer bonus payments to primary care doctors who better coordinate care for their patients.

“The Administration and the CMS deserve tremendous credit for advancing this vital initiative, which moves to another critical stage with today's announcement,” said American College of Physicians president David L. Bronson, MD, FACP, in a statement. “We are extraordinarily pleased with the CPCI’s focus on patient-centered care and practice redesign."

Simultaneously, participating commercial, state, and other federal insurance plans are also offering enhanced payment to primary care practices that are designed to support them in providing high-quality primary care on behalf of their members.

The practices were selected based on their use of health information technology, the ability to demonstrate recognition of advanced primary care delivery by accreditation bodies, service to patients covered by participating payers, participation in practice transformation and improvement activities, and diversity of geography, practice size and ownership structure.

The regions participating are:

Arkansas

Primary care practices: 66

Providers: 228

Payers: 4

Beneficiaries served: 51,000

Colorado

Primary care practices: 73

Providers: 335

Payers: 9

Beneficiaries served: 41,000

New Jersey

Primary care practices: 73

Providers: 335

Payers: 5

Beneficiaries served: 42,000

New York

The area served in New York is the Capital District-Hudson Valley Region

Primary care practices: 75

Providers: 286

Payers: 6

Beneficiaries served: 40,500

Ohio & Kentucky

The area served is the Cincinnati-Dayton Region

Primary care practices: 75

Providers: 261

Payers: 3

Beneficiaries served: 44,500

Oklahoma

The area served is the Greater Tulsa Region

Primary care practices: 68

Providers: 265

Payers: 3

Beneficiaries served: 45,000

Oregon

Primary care practices: 70

Providers: 517

Payers: 6

Beneficiaries served: 49,000

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Comprehensive Primary Care Initiative