Cincinnati-Dayton region primary care practices selected for partnership with CMS

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) has selected 500 primary care practices in seven regions around the country - including 75 in Ohio and Kentucky’s Cincinnati-Dayton region - to participate in a partnership with CMS, state Medicaid agencies, commercial health plans and self-insured businesses to improve access to quality care and lower costs (Source: CMS Announces Primary Care Practices to Participate in Historic Public-Private Partnership to Strengthen Primary Care, CMS Press Release, Aug. 22, 2012).

Under the four-year Comprehensive Primary Care Initiative, CMS will test a new service delivery model and payment model beginning this fall.  CMS will pay providers a care management fee, initially an average of $20 per beneficiary per month, to support enhanced, coordinated services for Medicare fee-for-service patients. Eventually, the practices will have an opportunity to share in any savings to the Medicare program. Participating commercial, state, and other federal insurance plans will also offer increased payments for the deliver of quality primary care to their enrollees.

Patients can expect longer and more flexible appointment times, the use of electronic health records, better coordination of care among their health care providers, and an increased role in managing their own care.  Practices were selected in part on their use of health IT, participation in practice transformation and improvement activities, and diversity of geography, practice size, and ownership structure.