Perhaps the biggest value-based challenge on the finance side is the lack of a single set of metrics by which to gauge quality.
The Department of Health and Human Services threw down the gauntlet in late January when Secretary Sylvia Burwell announced its intention to increase value-based purchasing dramatically in the next few years.
HHS plans to move its payment system to 30 percent value-based in 2016 and 50 percent by 2018. It also plans to have 95 percent of fee-for-service plans include some sort of value and efficiency components by 2018.
The Patient-Centered Primary Care Collaborative (PCPCC) applauds the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ (HHS) goal for 30 percent of Medicare payments to be in alternative payment models by the end of 2016 and 50 percent by the end of 2018.
HHS’s commitment to alternative payment models, like Accountable Care Organizations (ACOs) and bundled payments, as well as innovative care delivery models, like the Patient-Centered Medical Home (PCMH), signifies a positive shift in payment reform policy that moves away from the traditional fee-for-service (FFS) system.
The National Health Service Corps has been a key program in offering access to primary care in rural and underserved areas since its establishment in 1972.
President Barack Obama's 2009 stimulus package and the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act increased funding for the program, which repays medical education loans for providers working in underserved areas, most at federally qualified community health centers.
