Too Many Medicare APMs?

MedPAC thinks maybe that’s the case.

At the recent meeting of the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission, the agency’s commissioners suggested that they may recommend that the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services reduce its assortment of alternative payment model programs.

As reported by MedPage Today, a draft of MedPAC’s June report to Congress states that

The [Health and Human Services] Secretary should implement a more coordinated portfolio of fewer alternative payment models (APMs) that support the strategic objectives of reducing spending and improving quality.

In recent years CMS’s Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation has tested 54 different APMs; few have led to improvements in the quality of care and even fewer have produced savings.  In 2021 the agency is scheduled to operate 13 different APMs, many with multiple payment tracks from which participants can choose.  Now, MedPAC is considering advising CMS on how to target its APMs more effectively and better align its offerings’ incentives and methodologies.

Learn more about MedPAC’s interest in Medicare APMs in the MedPage Today article “MedPAC May Tell Medicare to Slim Down Its Alternative Payment Offerings.”