“The Trump administration is delaying the start of five programs to test new methods for the government to pay doctors and hospitals based on patients’ overall health because of the Covid-19 pandemic.”
“Included in the delay is a payment model to encourage more coordination of care for patients with late-stage chronic kidney disease and kidney failure. That’s one of the more prominent experiments in paying doctors more for keeping patients healthier longer, and it buttresses President Donald Trump’s effort to improve kidney care.”
“The models can’t be properly tested without participating health providers, and health professionals were concerned that the pandemic would mean fewer physician practices or hospitals would be able or willing to join. The government is also extending five test programs that are already in place so that participating providers don’t have to make decisions about signing new contracts mid-pandemic.”
“Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services Administrator Seema Verma made the announcement Tuesday in a Health Affairs blog. ‘As part of ensuring that value-based payments are sustainable, the models must be adjustable to address the uniqueness of the current situation,’ Verma said.”
“The office within the Department of Health and Human Services that runs those models, the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation, has expansive authority to create and test health-care payment systems without congressional approval…” Read the full article here.
Source: Paying Doctors for Patients’ Overall Health Delayed Due to Virus – By Shira Stein, June 3, 2020. Bloomberg Law.
