Ten Things to Know About The Comprehensive Primary Care Plus (CPC+) model

By Clive Riddle, April 15, 2016

1.  CPC+ is a CMS five-year initiative starting in January 2017 to create a national advanced primary care medical home model that aims to strengthen primary care through a regionally-based multi-payer payment reform and care delivery transformation.

2. CPC+ will be implemented in up to 20 regions and can accommodate up to 5,000 practices, which would encompass more than 20,000 doctors and clinicians and the 25 million people they serve.

3. The multi-payer approach involves Medicare partnering with commercial and state health insurance plans to support primary care practices in delivering advanced primary care.

4. Advanced primary care has five key components:

• Services are accessible, responsive to an individual’s preference, and patients can take advantage of enhanced in-person hours and 24/7 telephone or electronic access;
• Patients at highest risk receive proactive, relationship-based care management services to improve outcomes;
• Care is comprehensive and practices can meet the majority of each individual’s physical and mental health care needs, including prevention. Care is also coordinated across the health care system, including specialty care and community services, and patients receive timely follow-up after emergency room or hospital visits:
• It is patient-centered, recognizing that patients and family members are core members of the care team, and actively engages patients to design care that best meets their needs:
• Quality and utilization of services are measured, and data is analyzed to identify opportunities for improvements in care and to develop new capabilities.

5. CPC+ lists five patient care objectives to help primary care practices:

• Support patients with serious or chronic diseases to achieve their health goals;
• 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 hospitals and other clinicians, including specialists, to provide better coordinated care

6. CPC+ will include two primary care practice tracks with incrementally advanced care delivery requirements and payment options. Practices in both tracks will receive up-front incentive payments that they will either keep or repay based on their performance on quality and utilization metrics. Practices in both tracks also will receive data on cost and utilization.

7. Track 1 practices will receive a monthly care management fee in addition to the fee-for-service payments under the Medicare Physician Fee Schedule for activities.

8. Track 2 practices will be expected to provide more comprehensive services for patients with complex medical and behavioral health needs. Track 2, practices will also receive a monthly care management fee and, instead of full Medicare fee-for-service payments for Evaluation and Management services, will receive a hybrid of reduced Medicare fee-for-service payments and up-front comprehensive primary care payments for those services. Track 2 practices’ vendors will sign a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with CMS that outlines their commitment to supporting practices’ enhancement of health IT capabilities.

9. CPC+ was developed through the ACA enacted Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation, and is an outgrowth of the Comprehensive Primary Care (CPC) initiative, a model tested through the Center for Medicare & Medicaid Innovation that began October 2012 and runs through December 31, 2016

10. CMS will accept payer proposals to partner in CPC+ from April 15 through June 1, 2016. CMS will accept practice applications in the determined regions from July 15 through September 1, 2016. CMS will select regions for CPC+ where there is sufficient interest from multiple payers to support practices’ participation in the initiative.

Here’s where you can find out more:

• CMS April 11^th 2016 CPC+ Press Release
• CMS CPC+ Fact Sheet
• CMS CPC+ FAQs
• JAMA April 11, 2016 Article: Medicare’s Vision for Advanced Primary Care