Leaders at the Washington, D.C.-based NAACOS—the National Association of Accountable Care Organizations—are applauding the introduction into the U.S. Senate of a bill to extend incentives for providers to participate in advanced alternative payment models (APMs).
The bill, named the Preserving Patient Access to Accountable Care Act, was introduced into the Senate by a bipartisan group of senators—Republican Senators John Barrasso (Wyoming), Bill Cassidy (Louisiana), Marsha Blackburn (Tennessee), and Thom Tillis (North Carolina), and Democratic Senators Sheldon Whitehouse (Rhode Island) and Peter Welch (Vermont).
In a statement released to the news media on April 11, Emily Brower, NAACOS CEO, stated that “The National Association of ACOs (NAACOS) commends Senators Barrasso and Whitehouse for introducing the Preserving Patient Access to Accountable Care Act. This important legislation would extend Medicare’s advanced Alternative Payment Model (APM) incentive for one year at 3.53 percent and restore qualifying thresholds to their previous levels. Accountable care improves health for patients and communities,” Brower emphasized. “The advanced APM incentives enable clinicians to expand access to services not typically covered by Medicare and innovate high-quality care delivery that improves clinical outcomes and reduces costs. Importantly, and by design, the incentives also relieve providers from burdensome, low-value regulation.”
And, she added, “We encourage Congress to quickly to extend these incentives and begin shaping a sustainable, long-term strategy for physician payment reform that accelerates accountable care."
