Home Health & Hospice Week

Medicare’s Seriously Ill Population program under the Primary Care First Model is on ice. SIP “is currently under review, and will not begin on the previously announced April 1, 2021 start date,” the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services says on its PCFM webpage.

Reminder: Under the program, “CMS will attribute Seriously Ill Population (SIP) patients lacking a primary care practitioner or care coordination to Primary Care First practices that specifically opt to participate in this payment model option,” the agency explains. “Clinicians enrolled in Medicare who typically provide hospice or palliative care services (e.g., those affiliated with a hospice, palliative care or similar organization) are eligible to care exclusively for SIP patients, either by participating in the model as a practice or by partnering with a Primary Care First participating practice that includes these practitioners on its practitioner roster.”