Statement on the Extension of Bundled Payments for Care Improvement (BPCI) Advanced

By Seth Edwards, Vice President of Population Health Management Collaboratives, Premier Inc.

Premier has been a long advocate for the movement from volume to value and supportive of alternate payment models that incentivize this movement. Today’s announcement from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services Innovation Center (CMMI) extending the Bundled Payments for Care Improvement (BPCI) Advanced model for an additional two years is a welcome move that will allow current participants to continue in the program and new healthcare providers to join. Strong partnerships between health systems and specialists facilitate a team-based, coordinated model of care delivery that supports the continued movement to value-based care. By providing an ongoing means to engage specialists in population-based efforts, the BPCI Advanced model will continue to align incentives to innovate the care delivery process, reduce costs, and improve quality and patient satisfaction.

Through our Bundled Payments Collaborative, Premier has worked with hundreds of hospitals and physician groups across the nation to improve costs and patient outcomes through bundled payments. Approximately 75 percent of Premier’s Bundled Payment Collaborative members have achieved savings for Medicare. As we have learned from members in our collaboratives, these models require significant investment in redesigning care through new technologies, data analytics and additional staff. The extension of the model will allow current participants to further leverage these investments and build on their progress, while also providing a sufficient runway for new entrants to participate in the model.

This announcement signals CMS’ commitment to continuing to work with stakeholders to innovate within the BPCI Advanced program and move towards the next generation of bundled payments. Premier looks forward to working alongside CMS to reimagine the future of bundled payments and continue to lead the transformation to cost-effective healthcare.