The AAMC joined 17 organizations in a Sept. 9 letter to Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra, JD, regarding advancing health equity and value through innovative alternative payment models (APMs). It pointed out that while much progress has been made, there remain opportunities to advance the movement to value through increased participation in APMs.
The letter offered specific approaches to advancing value-based models for the future. Among the approaches is addressing health equity within APMs by incorporating social determinants of health in risk adjustment and paying for services that address social determinants of health. To ensure incentives for APM adoption, the letter recommended easing the requirements for qualifying for the Advanced APM (AAPM) bonus and extending the AAPM bonuses an additional six years. It emphasized the importance of revisiting evaluation criteria for model expansion and addressing overlap in value-based care programs. Also, it recommended that the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services address changes made to the Medicare Shared Savings Program in recent years that have had a “chilling effect” on program participation.