Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) Administrator Seema Verma recently spoke at the annual CMS Quality Conference, where she discussed how CMS is looking at ways to encourage more providers to participate in value-based payment models.
Verma noted that “only 14 percent of providers in Medicare are in value-based agreements” and stated that CMS has “spent the last year developing a new cadre of models and a strategy to increase provider participation.”
According to Verma, CMS will be offering additional opportunities, presumably in the form of new programs and incentives, for providers to accept “higher levels of risk” under value-based agreements. New financing arrangements would target primary care as well as “different disease states and types of providers.”
Administrator Verma’s remarks highlight an ongoing commitment from CMS to push forward with the transition to value-based payment in the Medicare and Medicaid programs. As detailed in this speech, CMS is expected to release several new value-based alternative payment models this year.
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