ADVERTISEMENT

CMS pushing primary care with two new payment models

AAFP is excited about Primary Care First

Medicare officials aim to shift the program’s focus from sickness to wellness with the introduction of two new primary care value-based payment care models.

Wikimedia Commons/WWsgConnect/CC-SA 4.0
Alex M. Azar II

“We’re launching CMS Primary Cares, an initiative of two new payment models that will enroll a quarter or more of traditional Medicare beneficiaries and a quarter of providers in arrangements that pay for keeping patients healthy, rather than ordering procedures,” Alex Azar, secretary of Health and Human Services, said April 22 during a press conference.

“Today’s announcement creates innovation in primary care that has the potential to entirely transform our fee-for-service system – which is about 65% of the Medicare program – into one that drives value,” Seema Verma, administrator of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, said during the press conference.