Release of an Informal Request for Information on a Potential Oncology Care First Model in Preparation for the November 4 Public Listening Session

Release of an Informal Request for Information on a Potential Oncology Care First Model in Preparation for the November 4 Public Listening Session

On Friday October 11, 2019, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation (Innovation Center) announced that it would be hosting a Public Listening Session and inviting feedback on value-based payment to support high-quality oncology care.

Today, the Innovation Center is announcing that at the Public Listening Session, we hope to gather feedback on the informal Request for Information (RFI), that outlines a potential Oncology Care First (OCF) Model.

At the Public Listening Session and in submitted written feedback, we hope to gather stakeholder input on the following targeted topics:

1. The potential OCF Model would seek to improve health outcomes and quality of care for Medicare beneficiaries with cancer. How could the potential model support participants’ care transformation through practice redesign activities? Specifically, how could the potential model build on lessons learned from the implementation of the practice redesign activities included in the Oncology Care Model (OCM)? What revisions or additions should be made to the OCM practice redesign activities in the potential model?
2. We welcome feedback on the potential payment methodology, including the structure and design of the monthly population payment and the performance-based payment. We are considering the inclusion of additional services in the monthly population payment, such as imaging or lab services, and seek feedback on adding these or other services to the monthly population payment.
3. We encourage feedback on the conceptualized risk arrangements, in particular, how a downside risk arrangement might be best constructed in terms of the level of risk.
4. We invite feedback on the interest of physician group practices (PGPs) and hospital outpatient departments (HOPDs) in participating in a potential OCF Model. We are particularly interested in hearing from PGPs and HOPDs about the conceptualized participation eligibility parameters (e.g., the grouping concept), and whether they think that meeting those parameters would be feasible. We also invite feedback from potential payer partners, including commercial payers and state Medicaid agencies. We welcome suggestions about the model concept that would better incentivize participation in the potential model.

We look forward to discussing the potential Oncology Care First Model with stakeholders at the Public Listening Session on Monday, November 4. We will accept written feedback on the informal RFI, for fifteen business days after the posting of the informal RFI to the Innovation Center website; as such, the feedback period will close on Monday, November 25, 2019. Written feedback can be sent to OCF@cms.hhs.gov, until the close of the feedback period.

For additional information, including access to the registration for the Public Listening Session and the informal RFI, please visit: the Public Listening Session for the potential Oncology Care First Model web page.