In July 2015, the Centers for
Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) proposed its Comprehensive Care for Joint
Replacement (CCJR) payment model, a pilot bundled payment program for the most
common inpatient surgeries for Medicare beneficiaries—hip and knee replacements,
known as lower extremity joint replacements (LEJRs). 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, initiated in 2013, is still in its
early stages. CCJR would be mandatory
for hospitals in 75 Metropolitan Statistical Areas (MSAs).
This white paper examines the top
ten things every hospital executive should know about the proposed CCJR
program, its relationship to the BPCI demonstration, and the implications of
this model for other innovative payment models.