Physician advocacy group pushes CMMI to change course on direct contracting model

American Physician Groups (APG) is calling on the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation (CMMI) reverse course and reopen the application portal for additional organizations to apply for Global and Professional Direct Contracting (GPDC) Model for 2022.

According to a news release, the APG’s Direct Contracting Coalition sent a letter to Elizabeth Fowler, deputy administrator and director of CMMI, saying that the agency’s decision to stop accepting applications is a serious blow to the movement toward value-based care and will be a setback to the GPDC model.

“We are disappointed in CMMI’s decision to stop accepting applications,” APG President and CEO Don Crane says in the release. “APG and the Coalition members believe that these risk-based Direct Contracting models represent the culmination of years of effort building risk-based models and to curtail them now appears to be a major step backward.”

The decision to close the application process will prevent many organizations from participating in the GPDC program, a number of whom have already made preparations and invested significant resources to meet the requirements for participation. The move also hurts patients by denying them better healthcare through these payment models, the release says.