, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) rolled out the Primary Cares Initiative, a collection of voluntary payment model options in support of high value primary care. 1 The first element of the initiative, Primary Care First, is to engage advanced primary care practice sites via 2 performance-based payment model options. 1 The second element of the initiative, Direct Contracting, aims to involve larger primary care entities via 3 risk-assuming payment model options. 2 It is the projection of CMS that the Primary Cares Initiative will improve the alignment of nearly 11 million Medicare beneficiaries as well as a large proportion of beneficiaries dually eligible for Medicare and Medicaid. 3 Affirming these high hopes, US Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar remarked that, "For years, policymakers have talked about building an American healthcare system that focuses on primary care, pays for value, and places the patient at the center. These new models represent the biggest step ever taken toward that vision." 3 In this Commentary, we describe the operational characteristics of the Primary Cares Initiative and examine its capacity to effect a meaningful value-based transformation of primary care. The Primary Care First paradigm, not unlike its Comprehensive Primary Care Plus predecessor, is intent on improving the quality and continuity of care while reducing the costs associated with the fee-for-service paradigm. 1,4 The similarities, however, end here in that the Comprehensive Primary Care Plus (a national advanced primary care medical home model), unlike Primary Care First, entailed no financial risk assumption. 4 Under the first ("General") Primary Care First payment model, advanced primary care practices sites are to receive a flat primary care visit fee, a monthly population-based payment, and a quarterly Funding: None. Conflicts of Interest: EYA serves as Co-Chair of the Safety Advisory Board of Ohana Biosciences, Inc. HEB, PG report none.
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