NHPCO Comment on CMS Primary Care First Model Options

NHPCO President and CEO Edo Banach, released the following statement in response to the Health and Human Services announcement of the Primary Care First Model Option:

“While we look forward to gathering more details about HHS’ recently announced set of payment model proposals, we applaud the Administration’s goal of delivering better value and care for patients. NHPCO has long advocated that any serious illness alternative payment model (APM) must balance population health and value-based care goals with the imperative to respond to patients’ unique care needs. 

“Key to the success of any model will be protecting and expanding access to high-quality palliative care and hospice services, and we hope that timely access to care will be integrated as a quality metric in the evaluation of the new Primary Care First Model. An interdisciplinary team is a key component of hospice and palliative care—but is not explicitly highlighted in the information released thus far. Any successful model will have to leverage interdisciplinary, person-centered care to be successful.

As the oldest and largest membership organization representing hospice and palliative care programs and professionals in the United States, NHPCO stands ready to help with the development and implementation of an APM that meets these goals.

“NHPCO has also recently partnered with other stakeholders across our sector in expressing our ongoing excitement and support for a serious illness payment model that will increase access to palliative care services for patients and families. Together, we have a continued interest in working with CMS to inform model refinement and educate and activate the field for model implementation.”

###

Bringing Together Representatives from CMS, CMMI and HHS

As part of the 2019 Leadership and Advocacy Conference, to be hosted in Washington, DC, on April 15 - 17, 2019, NHPCO has secured attendance of a number of representatives from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services Innovation, and the Administration.

• Eric D. Hargan, Deputy Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services will be the featured plenary speaker on Wednesday, April 17.
• Hospice Assessment Instrument Listening Sessions – CMS is hosting three separate listening sessions for conference attendees to discuss the Hospice Assessment Instrument under development that will be part of the CMS Hospice Quality Reporting Program (HQRP).
• Monday’s CMS Update – Featuring CMS staff members: Cindy Massuda, Charles Padgett, Kelly Vontran, Lori Teichman, Shannon Landefeld , and Michael Plotzke of Abt Associates.
• CMS Innovation Priorities – Discussion between Amy Bassano of the CMMI and NHPCO's Edo Banach.
• MCCM and VBID –  staff members from these CMS programs will be participating in LAC activities as well.

This is a rare opportunity to hear noted leaders talk about issues that are of primary concern to our community.

It's not too late to participate in the LAC. Onsite registration at our conference hotel, the Marriott Wardman Park, is available. 

CMS Introduction to CY2021 Hospice Component in the VBID Model

(News from CMS) - The CMS Innovation Center will be hosting two webinars to support robust stakeholder engagement efforts and as a result, the seamless test of carving in the Medicare hospice benefit into Medicare Advantage, as part of the Value-Based Insurance Design (VBID) model.

The first webinar will provide an overview of the model’s main goals and guiding principles, provide a brief review of Medicare Advantage and the Medicare Hospice Benefit, introduce the key model design considerations, and provide a general timeline for the coming months.

The second webinar will delve more deeply into CMS’s key design considerations that relate to beneficiary access, quality metrics and payment. During both webinars, CMS will share next steps and engagement opportunities as well as include a live question and answer (Q&A) session.

The first webinar will be held on Tuesday, April 9, from 2:00 - 3:00 p.m. EST. Details on the time and date, including how to register, for the second webinar will be announced separately on the VBID model website.

Registration for the first webinar can be found here: https://innovation.cms.gov/resources/vbid-hospice-intervention.html.