Payment Model for Hip and Knee Replacements Proposed

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) proposed an extensive “pilot” of a new Medicare Part A and B payment model, “Comprehensive Care for Joint Replacement (CCJR) Model” under which acute care hospitals in geographic areas covering about 25% of patients will receive retrospective bundled payments for episodes of care for hip and knee replacement surgery. The mandatory initiative, designed by the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation (CMMI), will test “whether bundled payments to acute care hospitals for lower extremity joint replacement episodes of care will reduce Medicare expenditures while preserving or enhancing the quality of care for Medicare beneficiaries.”  Full details.