By Melanie Zanona, CQ Roll Call
September 30, 2014 -- CMS will soon be releasing a request for information to explore various innovation partnerships with health plans and other stakeholders, according to a CMS official.
The remarks came on Tuesday at conferences on Medicare and Medicaid hosted by the trade group America’s Health Insurance Plans.
Patrick H. Conway, deputy administrator for innovation and quality and chief medical officer at CMS, said he could not provide specific details or timing on the request but said the agency will be seeking information on collaborations with health plans and stakeholders to test plan design, care delivery, network design and beneficiary, and provider engagement. “Health plan innovation is critical,” he said.
During Tuesday’s event, Conway highlighted CMS’ strategy to reform its delivery system, which aims to “optimize health outcomes by leading clinical quality improvement and health system transformation.”
The six major goals of the initiative, he said, are to make care safer, reduce costs, strengthen person and family engagement, promote effective prevention and treatment of chronic diseases, increase coordination of care and encourage healthy living among communities.
Conway touted his agency’s efforts to increase care coordination and keep patients healthy and out of the hospital, but also acknowledged that “at times, we are failing to have the whole ecosystem support families and patients in their care.”
Going forward, Conway said it will be crucial to integrate innovation across CMS and launch new specialty models, such as outpatient models that move away from the fee-for-service, alternative pain models and greater consumer incentives models. But Conway also said it’s imperative to constantly evaluate whether efforts are lowering costs and improving quality.