Comprehensive Primary Care Plus Press Release

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE January 2, 2017

Regional Family Medicine Participating in Historic Public-Private Partnership to Strengthen Primary Care

Initiative Provides Primary Care Practices with

Additional Resources to Improve Coordination of Care

           Regional Family Medicine is one of more than 2,900 primary care practices nationwide participating in Comprehensive Primary Care Plus (CPC+), a partnership between payer partners from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), state Medicaid agencies, commercial health plans, self-insured businesses, and primary care providers. This partnership is designed to provide improved access to quality health care at lower costs.

“A robust primary care system is essential to achieve better care, smarter spending, and healthier people,” said Acting CMS Administrator Patrick Conway. “For this reason, CMS is committed to supporting primary care clinicians to deliver the best, most comprehensive primary care possible for their patients.”

Through CPC+, CMS will pay primary care practices a care management fee, initially set at an average of $15 per beneficiary per month in Track 1 and $28 per beneficiary per month in Track 2, to support enhanced, coordinated services on behalf of Medicare fee-for-service beneficiaries. Simultaneously, participating commercial, state, and other federal insurance plans are also offering enhanced payment to primary care practices designed to support them in providing high-quality primary care on behalf of their members. 

For patients, this means that physicians may offer longer and more flexible hours; use electronic health records; coordinate care with patients’ other health care providers; better engage patients and caregivers in managing their own care; and provide individualized, enhanced care for patients living with multiple chronic diseases and higher needs.

The five-year model started on January 1, 2017, with CMS soliciting a diverse pool of commercial health plans, state Medicaid agencies, and self-insured businesses to work alongside Medicare to support comprehensive primary care. Public and private health plans in 14 regions across the country signed letters of intent with CMS to participate in this model: Arkansas, Colorado, Hawaii, Kansas and Missouri’s Greater Kansas City region, Michigan, Montana, New Jersey, New York’s Capital District-Hudson Valley region, Ohio and Kentucky’s Cincinnati-Dayton region, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania’s Greater Philadelphia Region, Rhode Island, and Tennessee. The markets were selected in August 2016 based on the percentage of the total population covered by payer partners who expressed interest in joining this partnership.

Eligible primary care practices in each market were invited to apply to participate in the winter of 2016. Through a competitive application process, CMS selected primary care practices within the selected markets to participate in CPC+. Practices were chosen based on their use of health information technology; ability to demonstrate recognition of advanced primary care delivery by leading clinical societies; service to patients covered by participating payer partners; participation in practice transformation and improvement activities; and diversity of geography, practice size, and ownership structure.

CPC+ is administered by the Center for Medicare & Medicaid Innovation (CMS Innovation Center). The CMS Innovation Center was created by the Affordable Care Act to test innovative payment and service delivery models that have the potential to reduce program expenditures while preserving or enhancing the quality of care.

For more information about CPC+, visit: https://innovation.cms.gov/initiatives/comprehensive-primary-care-plus/

 

Regional Family Medicine is a primary care group comprised of two separate clinic locations, eight primary care physicians, four advanced practice nurses, and over fifty other nurses, technicians and support staff.  Their goal is to provide high-quality, full-spectrum primary care services to the residents of the Twin Lakes Area.  Additionally, they offer in-house laboratory, radiology and ultrasound services.  The group currently provides primary care services to over 25,000 residents of Mountain Home and surrounding communities.  The Main Branch address, located near BRMC, is 630 Burnett Drive, while the East Branch is conveniently located near the Wal-Mart retail complex at 250 Drillers Road.   

Both Regional Family Medicine branches are recognized as National Center for Quality Assurance (NCQA) Level 3 Patient Centered Medical Homes, and are actively participating in the Baxter Physician Partners Accountable Care Organization (ACO) and Clinically Integrated Network (CIN), as well as the statewide, multi-payer Arkansas Payment Improvement Initiative PCMH Program. 

 

For more information or to schedule appointments, go to www.rfmmh.com or call (870) 425-6971.

 
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