On July 9, the Centers for
Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) released a proposed rule describing its
Comprehensive Care for Joint Replacement (CCJR) payment model, a pilot bundled
payment program for major lower extremity joint replacements. While CMS’
increasing interest in bundled payments has been apparent, the announcement of
this mandatory initiative was a surprise to many, given that the Bundled
Payments for Care Improvement (BPCI) demonstration program is still in its
early stages for many participants. In addition, CMS recently requested
comments on the expansion of the BPCI program, which it states is not related
to the CCJR pilot. Nonetheless, CCJR, which will be mandatory for about 1,200
hospitals, appears poised for implementation in January 2016.
This article presents an overview
of the CCJR program, highlighting its major components and comparing it to the
BPCI program. Obviously, we summarized
and omitted some of the details of the 438-page CMS proposal, so please refer
to that document for specific details.
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