CMS declares latest initiative to raise clinician engagement

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has declared today a latest initiative to make better the clinician experience with the Medicare program. This new long-term efforts aims to reconstruct the physician experience by analyzing regulations and policies to reduce administrative tasks and seek other input to make better clinician satisfaction, as we execute delivery system reforms from the Affordable Care Act and Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act of 2015 (MACRA). The new step will be led by senior physicians within CMS who’ll report to the Office of the Administrator.

“A patient has physicians and their care teams as the most important resources. As we execute the Quality Payment Program under the authorization of MACRA, we can’t do it without making a sustained, long-term dedication to take a holistic view on the claims or demands on the physician and clinician workforce,” stated Andy Slavitt, CMS Acting Administrator. “This latest step will inaugurate a nationwide attempt to work with the clinician community to make better the Medicare regulations, policies, and interaction points to deal significant issues and to assist get physicians back to the most essential thing they do i.e. taking care of sufferers.”
Dr. Shantanu Agrawal is being considered to be appointed by Acting Administrator Andy Slavitt to lead the development of this function and implementation, which will cover documentation needs and existing physician interactions with CMS, among other elements of provider experiences. Each of the ten CMS regionvitt l offices will oversee regional meetings to take input from physician practices within the next 6 months and routine or regular meetings thereafter to make sure that the CMS is hearing from physicians on the ground. These local or regional meetings will result in a report with targeted suggestions to the CMS Administrator in the year of 2017. The three of regional Chief Medical Officers of CMS –Dr. Ashby Wolfe in San Francisco, Dr. Barbara Connors in Philadelphia, and Dr. Richard Wild in Atlanta – have accepted to serve as regional champions of this latest step.

Launch of 1st Initiative: Medical Review Reduction
The launch of an 18-month pilot program is the 1st action to decrease the medical review for few physicians while continuing to secure program integrity. Providers practicing within specified Advanced Alternative Payment Models (APMs) will be relieved of certain scrutiny under few medical review programs under this program. Advanced APMs were recognized as a potential chance for this pilot because participating clinicians share financial risk with the Medicare program. Strong motivation is being provided by two-sided risk models to deliver care in the most efficient manner possible, highly decreasing the risk of inadequate billing of services. After the outcomes of the pilot are reviewed, CMS will consider expansion along several dimensions involving additional Advanced APMs, provider types and specialties.
“Like all victorious changes, we will start with the basic actions and build over time,” claimed Dr. Ashby Wolfe, Region IX Chief Medical Officer. “Most significantly, we’re excited to build on the listening and engagement procedure we started this year by developing more opportunities for physicians to interact with CMS, particularly through our regional offices.”
The devoted team of clinicians participating in Medicare serves over 55 million of the country’s seniors and people with disabilities. Because of this new initiative, CMS is concentrated on supporting and motivating those clinicians through a flexible, contemporary Medicare program informed by clinician expertise and experience.
For further information, please visit: https://www.cms.gov/Newsroom/MediaReleaseDatabase/Fact-sheets/2016-Fact-sheets-items/2016-10-13.html
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https://www.cms.gov/Research-Statistics-Data-and-Systems/Monitoring-Programs/Medicare-FFS-Compliance-Programs/Overview.html