Why Better Health – Now
Through advocacy, education, and coalition-building, Better Health – Now seeks to increase investment in primary care and ensure that primary care payment is aligned with quality outcomes to meet the needs of everyone in all communities.
Policy Goals
A 2021 report from the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering & Medicine (NASEM) on improving primary care recommends changing the way the government pays for primary care in Medicare and Medicaid and investing more in primary care to achieve better health. PCC also strongly recommends that commercial payers take up the NASEM recommendations – alignment across public and private payers is critical to achieving bold transformation. Using the NASEM report as inspiration, PCC has adopted a framework to achieve Better Health - Now in three steps:
Better Health – Now calls on policymakers to design and support a higher-value, lower-cost, equitable health care system that prioritizes primary care:
- Primary care payment must transition from a model that pays clinicians for the volume of services they perform to one that rewards teams for providing quality, cost-effective care. These payment models provide patients with more personalized care, while giving primary care clinicians flexibility in the types of services they offer.
- Healthcare spending must be rebalanced towards primary care.
- Funding must support primary care teams that reflect and can meet the needs of diverse populations.
- Patients need a regular source of primary care and should be encouraged to select and develop a relationship with a primary care clinician.
- Primary care practices in rural and underserved communities — which often rely on Medicaid — need up front investments, appropriate payment and other support.
Policy Planks of Better Health – Now
CMS should offer primary care practices participating in the Medicare Shared Savings Program (MSSP) a hybrid population-based primary care payment option in the largest accountable care model (ACO) in Medicare.
- There are over 11 million Medicare beneficiaries enrolled in ACOs participating in MSSP
- Primary care drives high-performing Medicare ACOs, with more primary care clinicians and more primary care services linked to higher levels of quality and shared savings.
- More primary care clinicians and services mean more timely access and fewer avoidable ED visits for beneficiaries.
Drive equity in Medicaid by pivoting resources to primary care, matching patients to a strong care relationship.
- Medicaid is now the nation’s largest source of coverage and serves as a critical safety net.
- Better Health-NOW's primary care workgroup is drafting policy options during 2023 to strengthen primary care and accountability across Medicaid federal, state, and private sector stakeholders.
Provide whole-person primary care through behavioral health integration with teams and tools.
- Patients often seek and receive care for mental/behavioral health issues in primary care.
- There are proven models of primary care-behavioral health integration, including the collaborative care and primary care behavioral health models.
- Increase resources for primary care to build and sustain the teams to deliver interdisciplinary care in hybrid population-based payment models.
Strategies
Better Health – Now aims to foster bold action by federal policymakers to invest in primary care payment and access that will benefit patients. The campaign focuses on three strategies:
Coalition Building
Building and sustaining new partnerships will give patients, and primary care advocates a strong voice.
Policy Development
Better Health – Now will inform and shape policy proposals that can drive transformation through alternative payment models and new investments to promote better health, achieve equity, and lower costs.
Policymaker Communication and Education
Better Health – Now will leverage the strength of our multistakeholder coalition to implement effective communication & education efforts aimed at policymakers.
Members of Primary Care Collaborative represent primary care clinicians, practices and professional societies, patient and consumer advocates, health equity and community advocates, health plans, and other stakeholders who want to improve the health of our communities through primary care.
Better Health – Now is comprised of PCC Executive Members and additional campaign supporters. PCC is the only national multi-stakeholder organization focused on whole-person primary care. PCC operates as a convener and leader in the primary care community to bring together its current members and other key healthcare and patient-oriented stakeholders to push for payment reforms in primary care with a unified voice.
Watch the launch webinar Join Better Health – NOWThe Shared Principles of Primary Care
More than 350 diverse organizations support these shared principles of primary care , which guide PCC and the work of Better Health – Now.
