CMS Announces New Initiative to Increase Clinician Engagement

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) recently announced a new initiative to improve the clinician experience with the Medicare program. As we implement delivery system reforms from the Affordable Care Act and the Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act of 2015 (MACRA), this new long-term effort aims to reshape the physician experience by reviewing regulations and policies to minimize administrative tasks and seek other input to improve clinician satisfaction. The initiative will be led by senior physicians within CMS who will report to the Office of the Administrator.

"Physicians and their care teams are the most vital resource a patient has. As we implement the Quality Payment Program under MACRA, we cannot do it without making a sustained, long-term commitment to take a holistic view on the demands on the physician and clinician workforce," says Andy Slavitt, CMS Acting Administrator. "The new initiative will launch a nationwide effort to work with the clinician community to improve Medicare regulations, policies, and interaction points to address issues and to help get physicians back to the most important thing they do—taking care of patients."

Acting Administrator Andy Slavitt is appointing Dr. Shantanu Agrawal to lead the development of this function and implementation, which will cover documentation requirements and existing physician interactions with CMS, among other aspects of provider experiences. To ensure CMS is hearing from physicians on the ground, each of the 10 CMS regional offices will oversee local meetings to take input from physician practices within the next six months and regular meetings thereafter. These local meetings will result in a report with targeted recommendations to the CMS Administrator in 2017. Three of CMS' regional chief medical officers—Dr. Barbara Connors in Philadelphia, Dr. Ashby Wolfe in San Francisco, and Dr. Richard Wild in Atlanta—have agreed to serve as regional champions of this initiative.

"CMS is turning a new page in assessing not only how to reward for quality but also to reduce administrative hurdles," Agrawal says. "I look forward to hearing about what steps we can take to make the practice of medicine in Medicare more efficient and rewarding."

Launch of First Initiative: Medical Review Reduction
The first action is the launch of an 18-month pilot program to reduce medical review for certain physicians while continuing to protect program integrity. Under the program, providers practicing within specified Advanced Alternative Payment Models (APMs) will be relieved of some scrutiny under certain medical review programs. Advanced APMs were identified as a potential opportunity for this pilot because participating clinicians share financial risk with the Medicare program. Two-sided risk models provide powerful motivation to deliver care in the most efficient manner possible, greatly reducing the risk of improper billing of services. After the results of the pilot are analyzed, CMS will consider expansion along various dimensions including additional Advanced APMs, specialties, and provider types.

"Like all successful changes, we will begin with the basic steps and build over time," says Dr. Ashby Wolfe, Region IX chief medical officer. "Most importantly, we are excited to build on the listening and engagement process we began this year by creating more opportunities for physicians to interact with CMS, especially through our regional offices."

The dedicated team of clinicians participating in Medicare serve over 55 million of the country's seniors and individuals with disabilities. Through this new initiative, CMS is focused on supporting and empowering those clinicians through a flexible, modern Medicare program informed by clinician expertise and experience.

For more information, visit www.cms.gov/Newsroom/MediaReleaseDatabase/Fact-sheets/2016-Fact-sheets-items/2016-10-13.html or www.cms.gov/Research-Statistics-Data-and-Systems/Monitoring-Programs/Medicare-FFS-Compliance-Programs/Overview.html.

Source: Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services