PCPCC Extends Support for Bipartisan House 'Doc Fix' Bill

Statement Attributable to:

Marci Nielsen, PhD, MPH 
Chief Executive Officer
Patient-Centered Primary Care Collaborative 

AUGUST 1, 2013 – (Washington, DC) – On behalf of the Patient-Centered Primary Care Collaborative (PCPCC), we congratulate the Energy and Commerce committee on passage of the Medicare Patient Access and Quality Improvement Act of 2013. The bipartisan legislation, which passed the full committee on a 51-0 vote, repeals the Sustainable Growth Rate (SGR) and replaces it with a fair and stable Medicare physician payment system. It also rewards providers for the quality of care they provide to Medicare beneficiaries and solicits input from expert medical organizations and other stakeholders to develop those quality measures in a transparent and collaborative fashion.

The PCPCC is particularly pleased with the inclusion of language that recognizes the important role of the patient-centered medical home (PCMH) in improving access to continuous, coordinated, and patient-centered primary care for patients with complex chronic diseases. Based on the significant mounting evidence that demonstrates that the medical home has a direct and tangible impact on quality of care, patient outcomes, and health care costs (see PCPCC’s Summary of Medical Home Cost & Quality Results, 2010-2013 for available data), we strongly encourage the full House of Representatives to include the patient-centered medical home as a permanent program under the new Alternative Payment Model. Additionally, we support the inclusion of a diverse marketplace of medical home accreditation programs (e.g. AAAHC, URAC, the Joint Commission, and commercial health plans) in order to ensure that innovation and improvement of the model continues in a competitive marketplace.

The PCPCC congratulates the House Energy and Commerce Committee on this significant bipartisan achievement, and looks forward to working with Congress in supporting our mission of health system transformation. Representing more than 1,000 medical home stakeholders and supporters throughout the U.S., including providers, hospitals, health plans, employers, health IT, consulting, and pharmaceutical firms, the PCPCC is dedicated to advancing an effective and efficient health system built on a strong foundation of primary care and the PCMH. The PCPCC achieves its mission through the work of our five Stakeholder Centers, led by experts and thought leaders who are dedicated to transforming the U.S. health care system through delivery reform, payment reform, patient engagement, and employee benefit redesign.