At the request of the American Academy of Family Physicians, CMS is moving forward with updating the rules and programs around accountable care organizations, according to RevCycle Intelligence.
Here are five insights:
1. The AAFP is urging CMS to include key provisions related to family medicine when developing their new rulings for ACOs and the Medicare Shared Savings Program.
2. The AAFP believes sharing medical data more quickly and effectively with primary care physicians will allow more small and medium-sized medical centers to participate in ACOs and the Medicare Shared Savings program.
3. Additionally, the AAFP requests CMS create an appeals process for physicians who wish to decline serving a particular patient within an ACO depending up the services needed to treat a certain beneficiary.
4. A 2015 AAFP and Humana survey found as many as 63 percent of physicians do not receive feedback in a timely enough manner to make any significant changes to their medical practice to receive much-needed revenue.
5. Within the Medicare Shared Savings Program, primary care physicians would be required to monitor a patient's medical costs when making referrals.