Independent Evaluation of CPC+: Overview of Second Annual Report Findings

This webinar presents new findings from the second annual report of Mathematica’s independent evaluation of Comprehensive Primary Care Plus (CPC+), the largest and most ambitious primary care and delivery reform ever tested in the United States. Findings show CPC+ continued to provide primary care practices with substantial supports and required practices to make advanced care delivery changes. In the second year of the five-year evaluation, researchers found that CPC+ practices built on their progress from the first year to make important changes in care, such as providing care management to high-risk patients, further integrating behavioral health care into their practices, and establishing formal processes with hospitals and emergency departments to improve care transitions. However, as expected at this stage of making changes to care delivery, there were few effects on cost, service use, and quality for Medicare fee-for-service (FFS) beneficiaries.

CPC+ is a national, advanced primary care medical home model developed by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) that aims to strengthen primary care through regionally based multi-payer payment reform and care delivery transformation. For this study, Mathematica is collaborating closely with CMS to assess whether CPC+ achieves its goal of increasing access to—and improving the quality and efficiency of—primary care, which ultimately is intended to achieve better health outcomes at lower costs. The evaluation will also examine whether CPC+ enhances primary care physicians’ experience. The research builds on Mathematica’s evaluation of the Comprehensive Primary Care (CPC) initiative, known as “CPC Classic.”