Early Results from the CMS Innovation Center's CPCi

The Comprehensive Primary Care Initiative, launched last fall by the Centers for Medicaid and Medicare Services (CMS) Innovation Center, offers an opportunity for health plans, providers and CMS to work together on a community-based and integrated approach to health management. Preliminary year-one results for the Comprehensive Primary Care initiative appear to be positive, Managed Care Executive reports.

It looked at several CPCi sites, including Colorado. Patrick Gordon, associate vice president of Rocky Mountain Health Plans, the technical assistance contractor for CPCi on the Western Slope, shared some insights. It's a tough program, he says, but "nobody has thrown their hands up and said 'this is too much. In Colorado, a “very high percentage” of providers are meeting milestones and none of the 74 primary care practices or 369 providers in Grand Junction have exited the program.

Participants report that while aligning payment incentives is important, the real value of the Comprehensive Primary Care Initiative might be getting providers, payers, and government agencies to collaborate on pathways for information exchange.  Payment reform cannot be accomplished, nor will it solve the problems of our health care system, unless greater data exchange capabilities can be achieved.