CMS Announces Open Period for Additional Participants in the Bundled Payments for Care Improvement Initiative

CMS has announced that it will consider additional organizations to participate in Models 2, 3 and 4 of the Bundled Payments for Care Improvement Initiative (BPCI).  Initially announced in August 2011, the BPCI seeks to develop and test care and payment models under Medicare that demand accountability for better care, better health and lower costs over a range of health care services.  This announcement solicits participants in three of the four models authorized under the initiative:

• Model 2:  Retrospective bundled payments for hospitals, physicians and post-acute care providers for an episode of care that includes a hospital stay and post-acute care;
• Model 3: Retrospective bundled payments for post-acute care for episodes that do not include the acute hospital stay;
• Model 4:  Prospectively-administered bundled payments for the acute hospital stay and related readmissions.

Organizations may participate in more than one model.  In order to participate, organizations must submit Open Period forms by April 18, 2014 via email to BundledPayments@cms.hhs.gov. The full text of the announcement is available here.

Contact: Karen Lipson, klipson@leadingageny.org, 518-867-8383, ext. 124