HHS Launches Initiative for Primary Care Practices

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has launched a new initiative made possible by the Affordable Care Act to help primary care practices deliver higher-quality, more coordinated and patient-centered care. Under the Comprehensive Primary Care Initiative, Medicare will work with commercial and state health insurance plans to offer additional support to primary care doctors who better coordinate care for their patients. The initiative is modeled after innovative practices developed by large employers and leading private health insurers in the private sector that show patients are healthier and avoid having to seek care in more complex and expensive settings when primary care practices have the resources to better coordinate care, engage patients in their care plan, and provide timely preventive care.

The voluntary initiative will begin as a demonstration project available in five to seven healthcare markets across the U.S. Primary care providers will be enrolled in the initiative by Medicare and its partners who will support doctors to help patients with serious or chronic diseases follow personalized care plans; give patients 24-hour access to care and health information; deliver preventive care; engage patients and their families in their own care; and work together with other doctors, including specialists, to provide better coordinated care. Primary care practices will be paid a monthly fee by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid for these activities, in addition to the usual Medicare fees that these practices would receive for delivering Medicare-covered services.

More information can be found about the Comprehensive Primary Care Initiative at innovations.cms.gov/areasof-focus/seamless-and-coordinated-caremodels/cpci.