CMS will cancel major bundled payment initiatives
CMS has proposed canceling the cardiac and expanded joint replacement bundled payment models.
The rule, which was sent to the Office of Management and Budget last week, would cancel the mandatory bundled payment programs for heart attacks and bypass surgeries as well as expansion of the existing Comprehensive Care for Joint Replacement model to include surgical treatments for hip and femur fractures. Those bundled payment initiatives have already been delayed twice. They’re currently slated to take effect Jan. 1, 2018.
Physicians would have the opportunity to earn a 5 percent bonus for participating in the cardiac bundles or the expanded CJR model, as the initiatives qualify as Advanced Alternative Payment Models under the Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act’s Quality Payment Program. Once finalized, the CMS rule would eliminate the bonus opportunity for physicians.
CMS further delays major bundled payment initiatives
The final rule delays the start of the cardiac rehabilitation payment model and mandatory bundled payment programs for heart attacks and bypass surgeries and the expansion date of the CJR model from Oct. 1, 2017, until Jan. 1, 2018.
This is the second time CMS has delayed the new programs and the CJR expansion. In March, the agency pushed back the effective date for the programs from July 1, 2017, until Oct. 1, 2017.
