How can primary care Make America Healthy Again? CMS wants to know

How can primary care be part of the initiative to Make America Healthy Again?

It’s not just a rhetorical question, and in recent years plenty of physicians have suggested solutions for better health for patients and the nation. Now that question is part of the 2027 Medicare Physician Fee Schedule (MPFS).

The draft document published in July includes a request for information, “Redesigning Primary Care To Make America Healthy Again.”

“Relatively and accurately valuing primary care appropriately is essential,” the MPFS said. “It is the cornerstone of a high-functioning health care system, helping enable the shift in U.S. health care toward a focus of preventive rather than reactive medicine — for health care rather than ‘sick care,’” the request said, citing the phrase used by Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.

Just how deep will the federal policymakers get into primary care? The request covers “soup to nuts” in Medicare payment for it, said Jake Quinton, M.D., chief medical officer for Medicare Parts A and B at CMS.

“That's from the evaluation/management visits to the care management code services to rethinking, like, what would it mean to incorporate technology into primary care?” Quinton said in a policy webinar hosted by the Primary Care Collaborative. “This is one of the more substantive requests for information in this really broad fee schedule, because we want to take a really hard look at revaluing primary care appropriately as part of the secretary's agenda.”

The request acknowledges changes to technology — particularly artificial intelligence (AI) — and payment methodology. Medicare leaders are seeking comment on three main topics:

• Payment for primary care services, which may be relatively undervalued
• Payment implications for technology enablement in primary care
• Established prospective primary care payment in the Medicare Shared Savings Program

As of the morning of Aug. 3, the MPFS prompted at least 1,628 comments about primary care and the other elements of health care in the 2027 MPFS. There’s sure to be more to come.

This slideshow outlines key points that CMS is asking about in the request for information. Data come from the draft MPFS as published in the Federal Register. To find the full document, click on “PDF,” then “View printed version.” The request for information can be found by searching for: “Redesigning Primary Care To Make America Healthy Again.”

To add a comment about the 2027 MPFS, click here. The deadline is Sept. 14.