ARTICLE SUMMARY:
Device firms signal strong support for CMS’ continued forays into bundled payments for hip and knee replacements and they are coming around on the long-feared concept of gainsharing. Those are two of five key takeaways we highlight from recent public comments responding to the agency’s proposal to extend and reform the ongoing Comprehensive Care for Joint Replacement program.
A Medicare bundled payment program that has been influential in the device industry is at a crossroads. The Comprehensive Care for Joint Replacement (CJR) model was launched in 2016 and is set to expire next March, following a COVID-19-related extension. (See box, “CJR Fast Facts.”) In February, the Centers of Medicare and Medicaid Services issued a proposed rule seeking to maintain the program for an additional three years and to make multiple changes. An extended public comment period on the proposal ended in late June. The responses, primarily from the device industry and healthcare providers, offer a window into current attitudes toward government value-based care efforts. Here are five takeaways from public comments submitted on CMS’ “Comprehensive Care for Joint Replacement Model Three-Year Extension and Changes to Episode Definition and Pricing” proposed rule.
