May 15, 2017
WASHINGTON, DC—The National Committee for Quality Assurance (NCQA) joined nine organizations in a letter to Department of Health & Human Services Secretary Tom Price, proposing that the Administration offer credit for advanced alternative payment model (APM) arrangements within Medicare Advantage (MA) as part of the Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act (MACRA).
NCQA co-signed the letter with the following national health organizations: CAPG, Healthcare Leadership Council, America’s Health Insurance Plans, Health Care Transformation Task Force, Pacific Business Group on Health, Direct Primary Care, Alliance of Community Health Plans, National Coalition on Health Care, the Blue Cross Blue Shield Association.
“NCQA is proud to partner with these esteemed organizations that together are focused on the value-based agenda,” said Margaret E. O’Kane, NCQA President. ““Providing APM credits for doctors participating in advanced payment models under Medicare Advantage will encourage value-based arrangements and advance the nationwide movement to reward clinicians for the value of the care they provide, rather than the volume of care.”
The organizations call on Secretary Price to “level the playing field and afford risk adjustments in the MA the same credit under MACRA as risk arrangements in traditional Medicare.”