Premier Urges Seamless Transition to Direct Contracting Model and COVID-19 Mitigation Improvements for Bundled Payment Organizations

Premier and America’s Physician Groups (APG) urged the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) to ensure accountable care and bundled payment organizations can focus on the transition to value by providing additional opportunities to enter the Direct Contracting model and mitigating the effects of the ongoing COVID-19 public health emergency (PHE) on all payment models. In a letter to CMS, Premier and APG asked CMS to:

• Allow current Medicare Shared Savings Program (MSSP) and Next Generation Accountable Care Organization (NGACO) participants to seamlessly transition to the new Direct Contracting model by offering a start date that would prevent a three-month gap in Medicare APM participation.
• Ensure that the policies intended to mitigate the impact of the PHE on Bundled Payments for Care Improvement Advanced (BPCI Advanced) capture clinical episodes that span the public health emergency and that providers have the data and time they need to make informed decisions on the options for mitigation.