Washington, DC – America’s Physician Groups (APG), along with APG’s Direct Contracting Coalition (Coalition) members, today urged the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation (CMMI) to reverse its decision and reopen the application portal to allow additional organizations to apply for the Global and Professional Direct Contracting (GPDC) Model for 2022.
APG established the Direct Contracting Coalition to help both current and potential participants in these risk-based models to exchange information and share best practices so that they can be successful. Co-chaired by Gary Jacobs, Executive Director of the VillageMD Center for Public Policy, and Rushika Fernandopulle, MD, CEO of Iora Health, participation in the Coalition is open to any Direct Contracting-qualified organization.
In a letter to Elizabeth Fowler, Deputy Administrator and Director of CMMI, the APG Coalition members say that CMMI’s decision to stop accepting applications for future participants represents a serious blow to the progress of the movement toward value-based care. Ending the application process early is a terrible setback to the GPDC model.
“We are disappointed in CMMI’s decision to stop accepting applications,” said APG President and CEO Don Crane. “APG and the Coalition members believe that these risk-based Direct Contracting models represent the culmination of years of effort building risk-based models and to curtail them now appears to be a major step backward.”
CMMI’s unfortunate decision will prevent numerous organizations from participating in the GPDC program, many of whom have already made substantial preparations and invested significant resources to meet the participation requirements. The decision also hurts patients by denying them better healthcare through these new payment models.
The only proven way to improve quality and lower costs is to bring value into the healthcare delivery system. Allowing organizations to change to a value-based payment system reduces healthcare costs, improves the patient experience, and improves the health of populations more quickly.
# # #
About America’s Physician Groups
America’s Physician Groups is a national association representing more than 340 physician groups with approximately 195,000 physicians providing care to nearly 45 million patients. APG’s tagline, ‘Taking Responsibility for America’s Health,’ represents our members’ vision to move from the antiquated, dysfunctional fee-for-service reimbursement system to a clinically integrated, value-based healthcare system where physician groups are accountable for the coordination, cost, and quality of patient care. Visit us at www.apg.org.
Contact: Greg Phillips, APG Director of Communications, 202-770-1901, gphillips@apg.org
