August 8, 2022
If there was any summer slowdown for policy, it’s well over now as we continue to work on our comments to CMS in response to the Proposed 2023 Physician Fee Schedule (due September 6), finishing up ACO changes for 2023, and soon our Q2 MSSP results plus the final 2021 results.
As you review the 2023 PFS either directly, through our webinar, or our blog, we’d love your feedback so we can include your voice in Aledade’s official comment letter. You can write to us directly at policy@aledade.com. You can also submit comments directly to CMS (online, search CMS-1770-P on this link and click on “Comments”).
Opportunity to Meet With Your Legislator
If you are coming to Washington, DC, in September for the AAFP FMX, we are offering an opportunity to arrange and attend a meeting on the Hill with your legislative representative. If you are going to be in DC and would like to have a meeting with your Rep, let us know (ckorba@aledade.com).
Even if you are not planning on coming to DC, Congressional staffers have embraced virtual meetings and we would like to set one up for you. No policy experience or extensive prep work is required–our main ask of you is to tell your story of practicing independent primary care in your state. We will have a few specific requests for the legislators and some materials we’ll provide the staff around legislation or opportunities to advance value-based and accountable care.
It is Congress, and only Congress, that can address the mismatch between the realities of inflation in your practices and the negative to neutral updates in the 2023 PFS.
State Policy Highlight
The California State Policy Committee launched in May of 2022. Led by a core group of Aledade Local Medical Directors, the Committee meets monthly and has identified several initial key policy priorities for their practices and patients, including:
- Increased primary care investment to support practice sustainability in value-based arrangements;
- Innovation and equity in telehealth policy and data metrics used to measure quality;
- Strengthening educational pipelines and residency experiences that cultivate exposure to independent and community-based practice settings for prospective clinicians.
The Policy Committee will work to ensure a framework for primary care investment that centers around the strengths and needs of independent and community-based practices.
If you are interested in participating or have questions about California state policy activities, email jmolera@aledade.com.
Thank you for everything you are doing.