House Energy and Commerce Health Subcommittee holds hearing on value-based care; AHA submits statement, expresses support and shares principles for alternative payment models.

The House Energy and Commerce Health Subcommittee June 13 held a hearing about transitioning to value-based care. The AHA submitted a statement to the subcommittee for the hearing, expressing support for value-based care and sharing principles the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation should consider when designing alternative payment models. Those principles include adequate on-ramp and glidepath to transition to risk; adequate risk adjustment; voluntary participation and flexible design; balanced risk versus reward; guardrails to ensure participants don't compete against themselves when they achieve optimal cost savings and outcomes; and upfront investment incentives. 

The AHA also expressed concerns with the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services newly proposed Transforming Episode Accountability Model — a mandatory bundled payment model, and suggested CMS make participation voluntary along with a host of other changes. Additionally, the AHA questioned design elements of CMS’ proposed Increasing Organ Transplant Access model, a mandatory payment model for kidney transplants.