CMS Announces New Regions to Join CPC+

On May 17, 2017, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) and its Innovation Center (CMMI) announced the regions chosen for the second wave of Comprehensive Primary Care Plus (CPC+), the national model that was developed to strengthen primary care through payment reform and care delivery transformation. CMS will partner with seven insurers in four new regions: Louisiana, Nebraska, North Dakota, and the greater Buffalo region of New York. These regions will start in January 1, 2018 and finish at the end of calendar year 2023.

In addition, there are new insurers entering the project in six of the 14 existing CPC+ regions, increasing the proportion of patients benefitting from the program. These insurance organizations can begin participating immediately, aligning with the other CPC+ payers in their regions.

“CPC+ remains at the cornerstone of accelerating CMS’s transition from fee-for-service payment to compensation based on performance metrics, patient experience, and patient outcomes,” said Lisa Dulsky Watkins, director of the Fund’s Multi-State Collaborative, a learning network supporting the CPC+ and other advanced primary care initiatives. “Participation in CPC+ gives primary care practices the opportunity to meet the higher standards of the Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act of 2015 (MACRA) Quality Payment Program, as these practices are recognized as advanced alternative payment models.”

With Round 2’s implementation in 2018, CPC+ will be in 18 regions of the country that are diverse in terms of both geography and market characteristics. “The CPC+ regions are in this for the long haul,” Dulsky Watkins noted. “The five-year duration of the model is a significant investment necessary for primary care, which is the basis for strengthening any high-performing health delivery system. We will continue to work closely with our colleagues at CMMI—and at the regional level with payers and conveners responsible for alignment of payment mechanisms and quality improvement—to transform primary care practice and improve the value of the care patients receive.”

Primary care practices in the four newly-selected geographic regions have until July 13, 2017 to complete their applications for participation in CPC+ Round 2.