CMMI’s financial experts are still hard at work on its upcoming payment models that incorporate palliative care. Many in Texas are hopeful, although there hasn’t yet been an announcement made regarding the details of a potential palliative care reimbursement model, and the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Service hasn’t demonstrated how it will work.
What do we know about the CMMI palliative care reimbursement model?
It is certain that the Medicare Care Choices Model comes into play. This was a demonstration that ended in 2021 and intended to show how concurrent curative and hospice care would be impacted. The parts of MCCM that dealt with palliative care are being used to develop the new model.
Palliative care is an approach to caregiving that approaches each patient holistically through various medical disciplines. Concurrent curative care is used when a health condition is treated while the patient is in hospice.
Why was MCCM chosen by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Service?
CMS examined 21 reimbursement programs. Of these, the only one that had notable improvements in the satisfaction of families and patients was MCCM. Patients also tended to save the most money with this program.
But some are skeptical because of some disclaimers in the information gathered from the project. This includes the low enrollment rates and some of the differences in the experience between patients and providers when compared to non-participants. Some are also leery about the self-reporting method of satisfaction in the study.
A significant part of the Center for Medicare & Medicaid Innovation’s latest work has been focused on pioneering a new method of getting reimbursed for palliative care and bringing that plan to fruition. The fact that the work done with MCCM is being put to good use and built upon has many people hopeful about the progress.