In This Issue:

- Recent Mandatory APMs Signal Evolution in Delivery Reform Efforts

- Implementation of the Affordable Care Act

- Federal Regulatory Initiatives

- Congressional Initiatives

- Upcoming Congressional Hearings

- Excerpt from Recent Mandatory APMs Signal Evolution in Delivery Reform Efforts:

Although the beltway media has been largely focused on the fate of the health insurance exchanges and years of repeal votes or other activity around the coverage provisions of the Affordable Care Act (ACA), health policy insiders have long viewed delivery system reform as the issue that would transcend ACA politics.

Current and former GOP and Democratic lawmakers, economic and health care executive branch officials, and policy experts have for the large part, supported various delivery system reform initiatives that have aimed to lower costs while maintaining or even improving the quality of health care. The work of the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation (CMMI) has undergone an evolution since its inception out of the ACA in 2011. With over two dozen alternative payment models (APMs) in its current portfolio, the number of providers participating in at least one Medicare APM is over 60,000 and touches approximately 2.5 million Medicare beneficiaries.