HHS has selected 196 physician group practices and 17 health insurance companies to participate in the Oncology Care Model — a value-based care delivery model that seeks to provide more coordinated cancer care at a lower cost to Medicare.
Under the Oncology Care Model, CMS will use a number of quality measures to track the care each physician practice provides to Medicare beneficiaries who undergo chemotherapy. Practices will receive performance-based payments for each six-month episode of care based on quality scores and whether they saved money over the episode, compared to historical fee-for-service payments.
"The potential for a performance-based payment will incentivize participating practices to improve care for beneficiaries and lower the total cost of care over the six-month episode period," according to CMS.
Practices will also receive a $160 monthly care management payment for each beneficiary.
Participants will be enrolled in a one-sided risk model for the first two years of the Oncology Care Model and dive into two-sided contracts beginning in 2018.
The Oncology Care Model begins July 1 and runs through June 30, 2021.
A list of the practices selected for the program can be accessed here.
More articles on healthcare finance:
12 hospital closures so far in 2016
Medicare to be insolvent 2 years earlier than previously expected
Billing errors, unpaid taxes signaled trouble for now bankrupt Pioneer Health Services