HHS will dole out $42 million in health reform funds to 500 federally qualified health centers (FQHC) over three years to help improve care in the Advanced Primary Care Practice (APCP) demo program, HHS announced in an Oct. 24 news release.
CMS will pay these clinics monthly per primary care patient based on their performance, such as chronic disease management, and, in return, clinics are expected to use the funds to extend their hours, staff needs to accommodate same-day appointments and serve urgent care patients.
“The goal of this demonstration is to help patients get the care they need in a primary care setting rather than in an emergency department,” said CMS’s administrator Donald M. Berwick, M.D. “When patients are able to use a health center as their primary source of care, it helps primary care doctors, nurses and specialists coordinate their care. Health centers will also use health care dollars more wisely as patients receive the right tests, right medications and right treatments in the right setting.”
The program will be run from Nov. 1 through Oct. 31, 2014. For more information on the APCP demo project, go to: http://innovations.cms.gov/areas-of-focus/seamless-and-coordinated-care-models/fqhc/.