In The News: Optimizing State Policies for Primary Care Payment Reform

Stephanie Gold, MD, Associate Professor of Family Medicine for the University of Colorado Anschutz and Scholar at the Eugene S. Farley, Jr. Health Policy Center, is a corresponding author on a new policy report, “Advancing Primary Care Payment Reform in the Commercial Sector,”. This work was featured in a Milbank Memorial Fund blog post—a foundation that works to improve population health and health equity.

Co-authors on this report included Eugene S. Farley, Jr. Health Policy Center scholars: Kyle Leggott, MD; Sarah Hemeida, MD, MPH; Lakshmi Karra, MD, MPH; Apoorva Ram, MD; and Lauren S. Hughes, MD, MPH, MSc, MHCDS.

This report highlighted the struggle of patients accessing primary care across the country—which is directly correlated with the increasing shortage of healthcare workers. Issues in primary care payment, including inadequate investment and reliance on a fee-for-service (FFS) model, fuel these shortages. Payment reform for primary care is urgently needed.

The findings from the research are also distilled into a policy playbook with three key overarching takeaways for successful state policies targeting primary care payment reform.

“(1) promote alternative payment models (APMs) that provide a meaningful amount of payment delivered through non-FFS mechanisms, including prospective payment; (2) increase investment in primary care; and (3) align payment approaches across payers within the commercial sector and across all sectors. “

This report was made possible through the support of Arnold Ventures, a philanthropic organization dedicated to enhancing the well-being of American families, fortifying communities, and fostering economic opportunity. Through strategic investments in research, they seek to uncover the underlying causes of the nation’s most pressing and enduring challenges.

Read the full blog post here.

From top left to bottom right: Stephanie Gold, MD;  Kyle Leggott, MD; Sarah Hemeida, MD, MPH; Lakshmi Karra, MD, MPH; Apoorva Ram, MD; and Lauren S. Hughes, MD, MPH, MSc, MHCDS.

Cover Photo Credit: Millbank Memorial Fund Blog