Senate Passes CHRONIC Care Act

On September 26, the Senate passed the CHRONIC Care Act is also known as the “Creating High-Quality Results and Outcomes Necessary to Improve Chronic Care Act.” The law passed with bipartisan support. “This legislation will improve disease management, lower Medicare costs and streamline care coordination services — all without adding to the deficit,” Senate Finance Committee Chairman Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) said in a statement. Bill Specifics There are several highlights from the bill. First, it extends the Independence at Home Model of Care. Specifically, it would extend the demonstration’s expiration date by two years—until September 30, 2019, increase the cap on the total number of participating beneficiaries from 10,000 to 15,000, and give practices three years to receive a shared savings payment. Currently practices are to be terminated if they do not receive such an incentive payment in two consecutive years. Furthermore, the bill will expand supplemental benefits to meet the needs of chronically ill Medicare Advantage (MA) enrollees. This would allow an MA plan to offer a wider array of supplemental benefits to chronically ill enrollees beginning in 2020. These supplemental benefits would be required to have a reasonable expectation of improving or maintaining the health or overall function of the chronically-ill enrollee and would not be limited to primarily health related services. The section would allow an MA plan the flexibility to provide targeted s...
Source: Policy and Medicine - Category: American Health Authors: Source Type: blogs