CMS selects 500 FQHCs for Advanced Primary Care Practice demonstration project
Posted on October 24, 2011 | Comment (1)
PDF Version
Details
Library
Implementation Briefs
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) announced today that 500 Federally Qualified Health Centers (FQHCs) have been selected to participate in the Advanced Primary Care Practice demonstration project. These 500 centers will receive $42 million over three years to improve quality and coordination of health care delivery. The project is designed to evaluate the patient-centered medical home model. The goal of the model is to improve patient health and the quality of health care delivery while lowering the cost of of care. HRSA and the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation Center developed the demonstration, which will be conducted from November 1, 2011 through October 31, 2014.
Comment (1)
Leave a Comment
March 30, 2012
The 2010 Affordable Care Act (ACA) boosted Medicare fees for primary care ambulatory visits by 10 percent for five years starting in 2011. Using a simulation model with real world parameters, the Commonwealth Fund evaluates the effects of a permanent 10 percent increase in these fees in their brief "Paying More for Primary Care: Can It Help Bend the Medicare Cost Curve?" The analysis shows the fee increase would increase primary care visits by 8.8 percent, and raise the overall cost of primary care visits by 17 percent. However, these increases would yield more than a sixfold annual return in lower Medicare costs for other services—mostly inpatient and postacute care—once the full effects on treatment patterns are realized. The net result would be a drop in Medicare costs of nearly 2 percent. These findings suggest that, under reasonable assumptions, promoting primary care can help bend the Medicare cost curve.
March 21, 2012
The federal health center program, authorized in Section 330 of the Public Health Service (PHS) Act, awards grants to support health centers: outpatient primary care facilities that provide care to primarily low-income individuals. The program—administered by the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) within the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS)— supports four types of health centers: (1) community health centers; (2) health centers for the homeless; (3) health centers for residents of public housing; and (4) migrant health centers. According to HRSA data, there are over 8,633 unique health center sites (i.e., unique health center facility locations). Facilities must meet a number of requirements to receive a Section 330 grant, but receiving these grants enables health centers to receive services or in-kind benefits from a number of federal programs.
This report released by the Congressional Research Service (CRS) provides an overview of the federal health center program including its statutory authority, program requirements, and appropriation levels. The report then describes health centers in general, where they are located, their patient population, and some outcomes associated with health center use. It also describes some federal programs available to assist health center operations including the federally qualified health center (FQHC) designation for Medicare and Medicaid payments. The report then concludes with a brief discussion of issues for Congress such as the potential effects of the ACA on health centers, the health center workforce, and financial considerations for health centers in the context of changing federal and state budgets. Finally, the report has two appendixes that describe (1) FQHC payments for Medicare and Medicaid beneficiaries served at health centers; and (2) programs that are similar to health centers but not authorized in Section 330 of the PHS Act.
November 9, 2011
A Commonwealth Fund international survey of adults living with complex care needs found that patients in the United States are much more likely than those in 10 other high-income countries to forgo needed care because of costs and to struggle with medical risk. In all of the countries surveyed, patients who have a medical home reported better coordination of care, fewer medical errors, and greater satisfaction as compared to those patients without one.
October 22, 2011
Patient-centered medical home models offer accessible, coordinated, comprehensive care focused on the needs of the patient. One of the most notable attributes of medical homes is the care coordination, which, if executed effectively, results in better health outcomes, reduced waste and duplication, and higher patient satisfaction. Yesterday, the Patient-Centered Primary Care Collaborative, an arm of the Commonwealth Fund, released a guide outlining seven key strategies to help health systems measure care coordination within medical homes. The seven strategies are 1) Work with a broad stakeholder group to reach consensus on measures; 2) Clarify purpose of measurement: quality improvement, accountability, evaluation; 3) Use standardized measures; 4) Incorporate patient feedback in assessing quality of care coordination; 5) Develop a tracking system that facilitates ongoing monitoring of performance; 6) Build and nurture relationships with providers outside of your medical home--the "medical neighborhood"--to facilitate data sharing, monitoring, and improvement; and 7) Use the data to improve care coordination. Share results at the practice and care-team levels.
October 7, 2011
The Commonwealth Fund Commission on a High Performance Health System's report "Ensuring Equity: A Post-Reform Framework to Achieve High Performance Health Care for Vulnerable Populations" examines the continuing problems facing vulnerable populations and offers a policy framework for moving forward. The framework features three overarching strategies to close the health care divide: 1) ensure that insurance coverage affords adequate health care access and financial protection; 2) strengthen the care delivery systems serving vulnerable populations; and 3) coordinate health care delivery with other community resources, including public health services.
May 30, 2011
By forging connections between federally qualified health centers (FQHCs) and other primary care providers, states may be able to connect Medicaid beneficiaries with services needed to help them manage their health and prevent costly hospital visits. FQHCs provide a comprehensive scope of primary and preventive health care and support services and have access to federal funds. This duality gives them the expertise and resources that might be leveraged to forge symbiotic relationships with states and private practices. The collaboration could benefit FQHCs by strengthening their financial position, advance quality goals, improve staffing mix, and enhance the care continuum and services available to patients. Funded by the Commonwealth Fund and authored by the National Academy for State Health Policy, the report "Developing Federally Qualified Health Centers Into Community Networks to Improve State Primary Care Delivery Systems," identifies states and FQHCs that are collaborating to build community networks to make medical home services available for vulnerable populations. Such collaborations offer important lessons for states to consider as they work to improve their primary care delivery system.
August 10, 2011
According to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), in 2008 there were an estimated 9.2 million individuals who were eligible for and enrolled in both the Medicare and Medicaid programs (commonly referred to as “dual eligibles”). Two-thirds of dual eligibles qualify because they are over age 65, while the other third qualify because of a disability. Dual-eligible beneficiaries typically have multiple chronic conditions that require a higher level of care and result in increased spending relative to other Medicare and Medicaid beneficiaries; however, their care is not usually coordinated. Policymakers have expressed concern that the lack of coordination between the two programs results in higher costs and poorer health outcomes than would be achieved if Medicare and Medicaid services were better integrated.
March 11, 2011
A recurring health reform theme over the years has been the “essential community provider.” Originated as an aspect of President Clinton’s health reform plan, the term has been used by policymakers and researchers alike to denote health care providers that through legal obligation or mission, organizational and service structure, and patient population characteristics, play a significant role in health care for patients and populations at disparate risk for inadequate access. Examples of patient populations reached by essential community providers include uninsured and underinsured persons, residents of medically underserved urban and rural communities that experience primary health care shortages, children with special health care needs and serious and chronic conditions, adults with mental illness and substance use disorders, disadvantaged patients who seek family planning and primary reproductive health services, seriously and chronically ill and disabled low-income populations including Medicare/Medicaid “dual enrollees,” homeless individuals, persons with HIV/AIDS, high risk pregnant women and newborns, and farm workers and their families.





Productivity screenings-Team & Non-Team
Make sure the Medicaid model uses the team productivity standard, and not the non-team productivity standard. With the non-team productivity standard, a patient may never see a physician; they could be seen by midlevels only. The Medicaid non-team productivity standards are not a reasonable screening process.
The Medicaid productivity screening is using the higher count of actual encounters, or standard encounters (4200 for docs & 2100 for midlevels) for each provider type.
Medicare uses the higher of actual team encounters, or team standard encounters. Medicare is using the reasonable productivity screen.
The Medicaid programs created the non-team standard after a 1994 Medicare printing error on the Medicare HCFA/CMS 222 productivity form. It must have been published at one of the State Medicaid director meetings. I would really like to find a presentation document.
It is time for someone to step up and show how bad the non-team productivity standards methodology is.
Let’s look at the productivity for 500 Health Center base PPS rates & actual encounter productivity using both methods.
Did Medicaid apply productivity penalties when the FQHCs actually met team productivity standards?
These 500 FQHCs would be a great case study.
The form HCFA -222-92 (8/94) Worksheet B, Part I & II Line 1-3, col. 4 were not shaded, thereby causing the Non-Team practice of medicine in the USA FQHCs. The Medicare intermediary recorded the XXXX where it should have been shaded The Medicare computerized Form HCFA/CMS 222 was always correct.
After 18 years, Medicaid now needs to use the more reasonable screening model.
We now need to use the proper national productivity screening philosophy.
TEAM-TEAM-TEAM-TEAM-TEAM-TEAM
The 2012 MEI % change from 1.8% to 0.60%; I know I did the right thing.
WET