Healthcare experts have argued for years that we should move away from the dysfunctional, unsustainable fee-for-service Medicare reimbursement system and toward value-based models that incentivize better health outcomes such as reduced hospitalizations and post-acute care costs.
Unfortunately, one of the federal Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation’s most promising value-based programs is facing a coordinated attack from “Medicare for All” advocates who want to end it before concrete evidence can prove that it benefits patients, providers and the Medicare system.
A campaign to stop the Direct Contracting program is led by Physicians for a National Health Program, an organization advocating for a universal, single-payer national health program. Their main argument against the Direct Contracting program is tried-and-true and deeply partisan—that it’s a back-door effort to “privatize Medicare” because some Direct Contracting Entities (DCEs) are owned by for-profit companies. It’s not.
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