New Directions for Medicare Physician Payment
<p>By linking health care provider payment to the value of care rather than the volume of services, MACRA could be even more transformational than the Affordable Care Act, said Elizabeth Mitchell of the Network for Regional Healthcare Improvement at a recent Alliance for Health Reform briefing. </p><p>In a new <em>To the Point</em>, The Commonwealth Fund’s Jordan Kiszla and Rachel Nuzum provide an overview of the briefing and the Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act of 2015, more commonly called MACRA. The law replaces a formula that tied increases in Medicare physician payments to growth in the economy with an approach that rewards high-performing providers and supports alternative payment models. </p>
<p>Presenters praised the law, as well as a new proposed rule on its implementation. They also highlighted the need to bring providers up to speed quickly and ways to support them in the transition.</p>