October 19, 2023- 23 national physician and health care associations and more than 600 health systems, hospitals, physician practices, health clinics, and accountable care organizations (ACOs) pressed congressional leaders to extend incentive payments for participation in risk-bearing alternative payment models (APMs). Incentives expire at the end of the year unless Congress acts.
The volume and diversity of the hundreds of supporters spans every corner of the country and shows the reach of APMs and the resulting incentive payments that will help ensure physicians and other clinicians have adequate resources to care for their patients.
Lawmakers in 2015 created a 5 percent incentive to help providers move into new payment models, such as ACOs, that encourage higher quality, more efficient, and more cost-effective care. The incentive has worked with nearly 300,000 clinicians receiving the incentive. Absent the 5 percent incentive, clinicians could be paid more under the Merit-based Incentive Payment System, which is an alternative to APMs. The letter argues an extension will give Congress more time to restructure physician payment overall to achieve its goals of better patient care at lower costs.