Comprehensive Primary Care Plus (CPC+) will pay well-deserving primary care providers an additional $100,000 to $250,000 per year, in addition to fee-for-service, for care that has previously been largely uncompensated.
Today, primary care physicians spend many hours outside the exam room, documenting patients’ history and following up on referrals, but do not get paid for activities that are not face to face. CPC+ allows doctors to spend more time during the day with patients and less time after hours on paperwork.
Track 1 and Track 2 participants are paid $180,000 to $320,000 per 1,000 patients per year for Care Management Fees, respectively, and are also eligible for $30,000 to $48,000 per year in incentive bonuses. In both tracks of the program, practices must have a care coordinator, promote wellness, use claims data, have 24/7 access, align patients with providers and report on quality.
In addition to the aforementioned $320,000, Track 2 primary care providers can get as much as 71.5% of the reimbursement previously confined to face-to-face visits, using patient-pleasing methods such as phone, email, or text advice. All procedures and routine office visits are still fully billable under the physician fee schedule, sometimes for higher rates. In either track, beginning in 2019, the practice will also receive a MACRA payment of 5% of Part B billing for five years and will be exempt from the Quality Payment Program (if the practice has fewer than 50 physicians). Participation regions and states will be selected by August 1st.
Applications are due September 15. This is a multi-payer program.
The 5,000 practices that can participate in the model may be determining the fate of primary care payments for decades to come. The Comprehensive Primary Care Initiative was the most generous program to date under CMMI, and well received by providers, but only broke even in cost savings. It’s sequel, Comprehensive Primary Care Plus promises to go even farther in both the incentives and the requirements of the program. If successful, the Secretary has the power to make the program permanent, and CPC+ pioneers can define a bright future for primary care payments.
To be eligible, practices must already have a care coordinator, promote wellness, have 24/7 access, align patients with providers and use data for care. Most small practices will not qualify without focused effort to implement the qualifying programs in a short period of time. To get assistance, please go to CaravanHealth.com.