[Federal Register Volume 78, Number 96 (Friday, May 17, 2013)]
[Notices]
[Pages 29139-29140]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2013-11819]


-----------------------------------------------------------------------

DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES

Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services

[CMS-5504-N3]


Medicare Program; Bundled Payments for Care Improvement Model 1 
Open Period

AGENCY: Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), HHS.

ACTION: Notice.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

SUMMARY: This notice announces an open period for additional 
organizations to be considered for participation in Model 1 of the 
Bundled Payments for Care Improvement initiative.

DATES: Model 1 of the Bundled Payments for Care Improvement Deadline: 
Interested organizations must submit a Model 1 Open Period Information 
Intake form by July 31, 2013.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 
    [email protected] for questions regarding Model 1 of the Bundled 
Payments for Care Improvement initiative. For additional information on 
this initiative go to the CMS Center for Medicare and Medicaid 
Innovation Web site at http://innovation.cms.gov/initiatives/BPCI-Model-1/index.html.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

I. Background

    We are committed to achieving better health, better care, and lower 
costs through continuous improvement for Medicare, Medicaid and 
Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP) beneficiaries. Beneficiaries 
can experience improved health outcomes and encounters in the health 
care system when providers work in a coordinated and person-centered 
manner. To this end, we are interested in partnering with providers 
that are working to redesign care to meet these goals. Payment 
approaches that reward providers that assume payment accountability at 
the individual level for a particular ``episode'' of care are potential 
mechanisms for developing these partnerships.
    The CMS Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation (Innovation 
Center) is testing four episode payment models. Testing of the first 
model, Model 1 of the Bundled Payments for Care Improvement initiative, 
began in April 2013 following a review of applications submitted in 
response to a Request for Application released by the Innovation Center 
in August 2011. For additional information about Model 1 of the Bundled 
Payments for Care Improvement initiative that began in April 2013, 
please visit the Innovation Center Web site as specified in the FOR 
FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT section of this notice.
    The Innovation Center is announcing an open period for additional 
organizations to be considered for participation in Model 1 of the 
Bundled Payments for Care Improvement initiative. Interested 
organizations can find information about the intake process, eligible 
organizations, and model requirements on the Web site as specified in 
the FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT section of this notice.

II. Provisions of the Notice

    We seek to achieve the following goals through implementation, 
consistent with the authority under section 1115A of the Social 
Security Act (the Act), as added by section 3021 of the Affordable Care 
Act, to test innovative payment and service delivery models that reduce 
spending under Medicare, Medicaid, or CHIP, while preserving or 
enhancing the quality of care:
     Improve care coordination, beneficiary experience, and 
accountability in a person-centered manner.
     Support and encourage providers that are interested in 
continuously reengineering care to deliver better care and better 
health at lower costs through continuous improvement.
     Create a cycle that leads to continually decreasing the 
cost of an acute or chronic episode of care while fostering quality 
improvement.
     Develop and test payment models that create extended 
accountability for better care, better health at lower costs for the 
full range of health care services.
     Shorten the cycle time for adoption of evidence-based 
care.
     Create environments that stimulate rapid development of 
new evidence-based knowledge.
    We are announcing an open period for additional organizations to be 
considered for participation in Model 1 of the Bundled Payments for 
Care Improvement initiative. Acute care hospitals paid under the 
inpatient prospective payment systems (IPPS) and organizations that 
wish to convene acute care hospitals in a facilitator convener role are 
eligible to be considered for participation in Model 1. Interested 
organizations must submit a Model 1 Open Period Information Intake form 
for a copy of the form go to the CMS Web site as specified in the FOR 
FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT section of this notice. Once organizations 
submit the intake form to [email protected], we will review the 
information provided and screen organizations for suitability for 
participation in Model 1. For information on the screening process go 
to the CMS Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation Web site as 
specified in the FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT section. We expect to 
offer Model 1 participation agreements to those organizations that 
demonstrate their fitness for participation in Model 1. More 
information about the participation process and model requirements can 
be found on the Web site as specified in the FOR FURTHER INFORMATION 
CONTACT section of this notice.

III. Collection of Information Requirements

    Section 1115A(d) of the Act waives the requirements of the 
Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 for purposes of testing and evaluation 
of new models or expansion of such models under section 1115A under 
this section.

    Authority: Section 1115A of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 
1315a)
(Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance No. 93.773 Medicare--
Hospital Insurance Program; and No. 93.774, Medicare--Supplementary 
Medical Insurance Program)


[[Page 29140]]


    Dated: May 3, 2013.
Marilyn Tavenner,
Acting Administrator, Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services.
[FR Doc. 2013-11819 Filed 5-16-13; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4120-01-P