The American Journal of Managed Care published an article examining how President Donald Trump's executive order on the ACA, signed Jan. 20, could impact CMS' bundled payments.
Here are five key notes:
1. The agency created a new bundled payment program for cardiac care and expanded the bundle for hip and knee replacements in December 2016, however that change could be postponed or not take affect as a result of the executive order, according to a Congressional Research Services memo.
2. CRS asked the agencies to postpone for 60 days any new regulations that have been published on the Federal Register but not implemented, which would include the bundled payment updates.
3. Mr. Trump's nomination for HHS Secretary Rep. Tom Price, MD, R-Ga., remains in the confirmation hearing process. He is a critic of the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation laboratory that produced the bundled payments programs and signed a letter insisting the agency cease "all current and future planned mandatory initiatives within the CMMI."
4. CMS has a planned webinar to explain the new rule on Feb. 9, 2017; the rule for the cardiac incentive payment model is set to launch in 98 markets on July 1, 2017.
5. The CMS bundled payments and Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act have received bipartisan support in Congress in the past.