The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services is seeking public input on a proposal to permit Medicare beneficiaries to enter into direct contracts with primary care and multi-specialty providers.

According to CMS,

A DPC [direct provider contracting] model would aim to enhance the beneficiary-physician relationship by providing a platform for physician group practices to provide flexible, accessible, and high quality care to beneficiaries that have actively chosen this type of care model.

The request for information, issued earlier this week, seeks public input on experience with direct provider contracting and asks interested parties to describe how Medicare might structure such a model, including addressing considerations such as provider and state participation, beneficiary participation, payments, program integrity, and beneficiary protection.

Comments are due May 25.

To learn more about the CMS request for information, a news release describing the request, and a copy of the RFI itself, go here.