AMGA Statement on 2022 Medicare Advantage Advance Notice

Alexandria, VA – AMGA today recommended that the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) finalize a number of its proposed policies for the Medicare Advantage program. AMGA and its members are strong supporters of the MA program, which offers a financing mechanism and benefit package that helps support care coordination. AMGA also recommended that CMS continue to recognize the effect of COVID-19 and ensure that audio-only visits remain available for providers and their patients. CMS should allow audio-only telephone calls to satisfy the face-to-face requirement for collecting diagnosis information for risk adjustment purposes.

“As the pandemic continues into 2021, beneficiaries will continue to be apprehensive about seeking in-person care and will continue to rely on audio-only visits,” said AMGA President and CEO Jerry Penso, M.D., M.B.A. “It’s important that Medicare Advantage policy recognize that these calls may be the only option available for some patients.”

AMGA also recommended that CMS work to ensure that encounter data is accurate, so that the risk scores based on the data are accurate. This will be imperative as CMS proposes for CY 2022 to rely fully on encounter data as the source of MA diagnoses when calculating risk scores for MA plan payment.

AMGA’s full comments are available are available here.

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About AMGA
AMGA is a trade association leading the transformation of health care in America. Representing multispecialty medical groups and integrated systems of care, we advocate, educate, innovate, and empower our members to deliver the next level of high performance health. AMGA is the national voice promoting awareness of our members’ recognized excellence in the delivery of coordinated, high-quality, high-value care. More than 175,000 physicians practice in our member organizations, delivering care to one in three Americans.

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Media Contact:

Sharon Grace
Chief Communications Officer
703.838.0033 ext. 393
sgrace@amga.org
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