Part B Insider (Multispecialty) Coding Alert

Center for Innovation seeking input on improvements in healthcare delivery

CMS has branched out with a new agency--the CMS Center for Medicare & Medicaid Innovation--to improve care delivery and explore new approaches to affordability--and the agency wants your input.

Due to changes implemented in the Affordable Care Act, CMS is now working to implement a new vision in which the agency aims to "transform our current, fragmented, high-cost delivery system to one that delivers a seamless care experience with better health and healthcare for patients at a lower cost through improvement," said CMS's Susie Butler Nov. 22 CMSsponsored call regarding healthcare delivery system reform.

"This is an enormous, challenging, and exciting opportunity for CMS, but we can't do it alone," Butler said, outlining the steps that the agency intends to take to begin the healthcare reform. CMS legitimately wants to hear "your ideas about what we could do differently in delivering care, and how we could pay you differently in supporting those alternative approaches," said Rick Gilfillan, MD, acting director of CMS's Center for Innovation.

The agency plans to focus on three areas while attempting to transform care, Gilfillan said, as follows:

Better care for people: Improving care for patients and developing ways to make care safer, more patient-centered, more efficient and effective, timelier, and more equitable

Coordinating care to improve health outcomes for patients: Developing new models that allow doctors, nurses, and other caregivers to work together to improve patient care

Community care models: Exploring steps to improve public health and make communities healthier by fighting obesity, smoking, and heart disease CMS is exploring new payment models that could be used to change the face of Medicare, said CMS's John Pilotte during the call. Representatives from facilities and health systems have told CMS that it should be more inclusive when implementing reforms outlined in the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, including creating accountable care organizations (ACOs).

How those ACOs will be formed could hinge on comments that CMS receives, Pilotte said, urging those in the medical community to send in comments on the program.

For more information on the CMS Innovation Center, visit www.innovations.cms.gov. CMS is taking comments via its open door forum series, and formal comments can be submitted through www.regulations.gov as well.