By CMS Administrator Seema Verma
Nationally expanded performance-based payment model now enrolling service suppliers
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) in April expanded the Medicare Diabetes Prevention Program (MDPP), a national performance-based payment model offering a new approach to type 2 diabetes prevention in eligible Medicare beneficiaries with an indication of pre-diabetes. For the first time, both traditional healthcare providers and community-based organizations can enroll as Medicare suppliers of health behavior change services. This innovative model promotes patient-centered care and continues to test market-driven reforms to drive quality of care and improve outcomes for America’s seniors, more than a quarter of whom have type 2 diabetes.
CMS recognizes that prevention is a critical part of creating an affordable healthcare system that puts patients first, and we encourage eligible suppliers to partner with us on this shared goal by participating in the national expansion of the MDPP.
As the CMS Innovation Center’s first preventive services model test to expand nationally, the MDPP is a key example of how we’re putting innovation to work. The model launched in 2012 as a small, voluntary model test at 17 sites across the country in partnership with the YMCA-USA, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), and other public and private partners. Now, CMS is expanding this set of services nationwide based on promising results. In the initial model test, 45 percent of beneficiaries met the 5 percent weight loss target, which translates to a clinically meaningful reduction in the risk of developing type 2 diabetes.
Through the MDPP, trained community health workers and other health professionals empower beneficiaries at high risk of developing type 2 diabetes to take ownership of their health through curriculum-driven coaching and proven behavior change strategies for weight control. As a new preventive service for qualifying Medicare beneficiaries, MDPP services are available without a referral or co-payment.
The MDPP is not only a good value for our beneficiaries. Investing in prevention through performance-based payments and market-based incentives, this promising model will save the Medicare program more than $180 million by keeping beneficiaries healthy and averting new cases of diabetes[i].
One of the critical innovations in the MDPP is its approach to care delivery: For the first time, community-based organizations can enroll in Medicare to provide evidence-based diabetes prevention services after achieving preliminary or full recognition through the CDC. These organizations can enroll in Medicare to become an MDPP Supplier today, and CMS will continue to accept supplier applications on a rolling basis. Eligible organizations can begin the screening and enrollment process to become an MDPP Supplier by using the Provider Enrollment Chain and Ownership System (PECOS) or submitting the paper CMS-20134 Form. For information on the steps to enrollment, please refer to the MDPP Enrollment Fact Sheet.
Diabetes exerts an unacceptable toll on our beneficiaries, their families, and the Medicare program, which spends more than $104 billion every year treating patients with this preventable disease. The Medicare Diabetes Prevention Program is leveraging innovation to bring valuable preventive services to our beneficiaries, and I urge eligible organizations across the country to enroll today in this exciting performance-based payment opportunity.
[i] Federal Register. Department of Health and Human Services, Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. Medicare Program; Revisions to Payment Policies Under the Physician Fee Schedule and Other Revisions to Part B for CY 2018; Medicare Shared Savings Program Requirements; and Medicare Diabetes Prevention Program; Final Rule. November 15, 2017. [pg. 53355 – 53356] https://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/FR-2017-11-15/pdf/2017-23953.pdf
