On January 18, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) announced that over 359,000 clinicians are confirmed to participate in one of CMS's four Alternative Payment Models (APMs) in 2017, serving more than 12.3 million Medicare and/or Medicaid beneficiaries.
These APMs include two types of accountable care organizations, the Medicare Shared Savings Program and the Next Generation ACO Model; the Comprehensive End-Stage Renal Disease Care Model; and the Comprehensive Primary Care Plus Model. CMS stated, "These initiatives and programs, developed by CMS and the Innovation Center, aim to achieve better care for patients, better health for our communities, and lower costs through improvement to our health care system. CMS expects that by the 2018 performance year, 25 percent of clinicians in the Quality Payment Program will be participating in an Advanced APM and eligible to earn APM incentive payments."
Notwithstanding CMS's optimism, many have noted that the future of the Innovation Center is up in the air as the new administration reviews the regulation of healthcare in the United States.
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