The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) this week gave approximately $20 million to 11 organizations for the first year of a five-year training and education program on the Quality Payment Program. Those 11 organizations are:
- Altarum
- Georgia Medical Care Foundation (GMCF)
- Healthcentric Advisors
- Health Services Advisory Group (HSAG)
- IPRO
- Network for Regional Healthcare Improvement (NRHI)
- QSource
- Qualis
- Quality Insights (West Virginia Medical Institute)
- Telligen
- TMF Health Quality Institute
CMS intends to invest an additional $80 million over the last four years of the program. This $100 million is part of CMS’s outreach effort to help clinicians understand the Quality Payment Program, which adjusts physician’s Medicare payments based on performance, as determined by self-reported quality data.
The organizations are all local, experienced, and community-based, and will use the money to provide hands-on training and technology to help small practices, especially those in under-resourced areas, be successful in the Quality Payment Program.
The training and education resources will be available immediately, nationwide, and provided at no cost to eligible clinicians and practices.
“Clinicians in small and rural practices are critical to serving the millions of Americans across the nation who rely on Medicare for their health care,” said Kate Goodrich, chief medical officer and director of the Center for Clinical Standards and Quality for CMS. “Congress, through the bipartisan Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act, recognized the importance of small practices and rural practices and provided the funding for this assistance, so clinicians in these practices can navigate the new program, while being able to focus on what matters most–the needs of their patients.”
The 11 organizations will also provide customized technical assistance to clinicians and practices. For example, clinicians can get help choosing and reporting on quality measures, and guidance on supporting change management, strategic planning, and assessing and optimizing health information technology.
