The Health Inpatient Procedures Act was introduced into the House of Representatives earlier this month and could push the CMS Comprehensive Care for Joint Replacement payment model implementation date from April 1, 2016 to Jan. 1, 2015.
"The CJR model mandated by CMS requires comprehensive planning and coordination between hospitals, physicians and post-acute care providers, as well as complete infrastructure support," said American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons President Gerald R. Williams Jr., MD. "While AAOS embraces initiatives that improve quality and lower cost, it is important that all stakeholders have adequate time to prepare for this kind of substantial change to our healthcare delivery system in order to avoid any disruption to normal patient access and care patterns."
Here are five key notes:
1. Tom Price, MD, an orthopedic surgeon and Republican representative from Georgia, and David Scott (D-GA) introduced the legislation.
2. When CCJR goes into effect, hospitals in 67 geographical areas will receive bundled payments for elective and non-elective hip and knee replacements as well as other lower extremity joint replacements and hip fracture repair.
3. Members of AAOS have participated in developing, implementing and evaluating episode of care payment initiatives in the past, but note there could be patient care issues with implementing the change without adequate preparation.
4. If CCJR goes into effect on April 1, Chairman of the AAOS Council on Advocacy Thomas C. Barber, MD, noted surgeons could face integration problems making it more difficult to improve patient quality of care and costs.
5. AAOS hopes to work with Congress on CCJR and improving quality as well as cost-effectiveness going forward.