AMGA Calls for Telehealth Flexibility, Regulatory Simplification

In response to a Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) Request for Information on provider experience, AMGA offered insight on how the Medicare physician payment system contributes to administrative burden and does not fully support providers’ ability to care for their patients.

Alexandria, VA – In response to a Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) Request for Information on provider experience, AMGA offered insight on how the Medicare physician payment system contributes to administrative burden and does not fully support providers’ ability to care for their patients. Based on their members’ extensive involvement with the Medicare program, AMGA offered a number of recommendations on the Quality Payment Program, quality measure reporting, and telehealth benefits

“AMGA appreciates CMS’ interest in how its payment system and regulations shape the provider experience. Our recommendations are centered on having the Medicare system support care delivery efforts, rather than checking boxes,” said AMGA President and CEO Jerry Penso, M.D., M.B.A. “It’s important that the regulatory environment keeps providers and their patients at the forefront.  Sometimes, even well-intentioned requirements do not reflect the reality on the ground. It is to CMS’ credit that they are working to ensure that rules and requirements make sense.”

For the Medicare physician payment system, AMGA recommended CMS eliminate the low-volume threshold in the Merit-Based Incentive Payment System, which contributes to a reimbursement system where reimbursements are not commensurate with the investments made to deliver care. For quality efforts, AMGA recommended that the quality measure reporting system focus on real-time submission, real-time feedback on performance, and timely payment incentives. AMGA also emphasized the importance of adequately reimbursing telehealth so it continues to be a viable care delivery option for providers and their patients.

AMGA’s full comments are available on AMGA’s website.

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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. For more information, visit amga.org.


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Media Contact:

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