By Chase Doscher, Class of 2018; Elizabeth N. Pitman, Counsel at Waller; Zachary D. Trotter, Associate at Waller

Earlier this month, CMS announced the launch of the Bundled Payment for Care Improvement Advanced (BPCI Advanced) payment model.

This is the first Advanced Alternative Payment Model (Advanced APM) introduced under the Trump Administration and the start of the next generation of BPCI models offered through the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation and authorized under the Affordable Care Act.  Under the MACRA Quality Payment Program, providers will be subject to Medicare payment adjustments through one of two tracks: Merit-based Incentive Payment System (MIPS) or Advanced APM.

Under MIPS, a provider may receive a negative, neutral or positive adjustment with the expectation that the majority of participants will experience either negative or neutral adjustments. The BPCI Advanced model, however, entices providers to participate in an Advanced APM by offering the potential for bonus payments under MACRA for those who meet or achieve certain benchmarks during a 90-day episode of care, including the all-cause hospital readmission measure and advance care plan measure.  As with other Advanced APMs, BPCI Advanced requires that participants assume some of the risk and ties payment to quality performance metrics and the required use of certified healthcare technology.

After cancelling an Obama-era proposal for converting certain of the BPCI episode models to mandatory bundled-payment models, the Trump Administration effort to maintain voluntary participation is an attempt to decrease the administrative burdens such models placed on providers. Voluntary participation in BPCI models, such as Comprehensive Care for Joint Replacement and the Cardiac Rehabilitation Incentive model, has been offered since 2016.

This new model will give providers, “an incentive to deliver efficient care,” Seema Verma, CMS Administrator, said. “BPCI Advanced builds on the earlier success of bundled payment models and is an important step in the move away from fee-for-service and toward paying for value.”

Thirty-two clinical care episodes will initially be included in BPCI Advanced, 29 inpatient-setting episodes of care and three outpatient-setting episodes of care and the potential for episode revision for new and existing participants beginning January 1, 2020.   The clinical care episodes include services such as major joint replacement of a lower extremity, percutaneous coronary intervention and spinal fusion.

BPCI Advanced performance period is from October 1, 2018 through December 31, 2023.  Participants joining in the initial stage may not exit prior to January 1, 2020.

Providers interested in at least one of the 32 clinical episodes to apply to the model have until 11:59 pm EST on March 12, 2018 to apply via the application portal.