Arkansas Blue Cross awards $2.4 million to primary care clinics

Arkansas Blue Cross and Blue Shield is financially rewarding clinics participating in the Comprehensive Primary Care Plus (CPC+) program – an initiative of the federal Center for Medicare & Medicaid Innovation – for their creative efforts to improve clinical effectiveness.

CPC+ provides financial resources to encourage primary care clinics to test ideas that advance patient care, improve outcomes and reduce low-value care and practices.

For meeting performance goals, 113 of 123 participating CPC+ clinics, representing 562 healthcare providers, will share in more than $2.4 million being awarded by Arkansas Blue Cross. Each clinic met or exceeded its 2019 CPC+ quality measure targets by demonstrating improvement in a number of different areas, including:

· Reductions in hospital admission and readmission rates
· Patient-satisfaction initiatives
· Quality of care
· Total cost of care

“We are encouraged to see CPC+ continuing to make such a positive impact on our state’s healthcare delivery system and for Arkansas Blue Cross members,” said Alicia Berkemeyer, senior vice president of Provider Network Services for Arkansas Blue Cross. “Primary care is the bedrock of our system, and we are gratified to see collaborative and provider-led innovation bolstering it throughout Arkansas.”

CPC+ features two staggered, concurrent five-year rounds, each limited to specific geographic regions. Round 1 began January 1, 2017, and will run through 2021. Round 2 began January 1, 2018, and will run through 2022. Practices were able to choose from two participation tracks when applying for CPC+. Both tracks focus on the following Comprehensive Primary Care functions:

· Access and continuity
· Care management
· Comprehensiveness and coordination
· Patient and caregiver engagement
· Planned care and population health

This partnership gives practices additional financial resources and flexibility to make investments, improve quality of care and reduce the number of unnecessary services their patients receive.

CPC+ provides practices with a robust learning system, as well as actionable data feedback to guide their decision-making. The care delivery redesign ensures practices have the infrastructure to deliver better care, resulting in a healthier patient population.