Clinicians and the Affordable Care Act

Many provisions of The Affordable Care Act are already in place, with more significant changes coming in 2014.  The law enacts comprehensive reforms that benefit clinicians.

Top 5 Ways You and Your Practice Benefit from the Affordable Care Act:

1. Expanded insurance coverage to over 30 million people, resulting in more patients for your practice. The law eliminates exclusions based on pre-existing conditions and extends affordable health coverage to over 30 million uninsured Americans in 2014. This will reduce the burden of uncompensated care on physicians and hospitals and bring more patients into your practice.
2. Reduced administrative burdens and more time seeing patients. The law invests in programs designed to help you and your practice transition to electronic record systems. We’re working with your professional organizations to support new payment and record-keeping systems, with the goal of reducing administrative burdens. This will let you to spend more time in the exam room, and less on paperwork.
3. New models create more opportunities to coordinate care. We’re working to develop new models of patient-centered, coordinated care designed to give you more support and control: faster information flow across care sites, better consults, and provider support systems that help patients become active participants in their care. And Medicare pays bonuses to qualified primary care doctors.
4. New consumer protections hold health insurers accountable, putting patients and clinicians first. Insurers can’t cancel coverage when a patient gets sick, and they can’t set lifetime benefit limits that leave patients without coverage in times of catastrophic need. Insurers that don’t spend at least 80% of premium dollars on patient care have to provide rebates to consumers. Read more about consumer protections.
5. New protections strengthen patient coverage, your practice, and the entire health care system. The Affordable Care Act preserves guaranteed benefits under Medicare; makes recommended preventive services for people with Medicare available at no cost; and provides patients with an annual wellness visit. The law also requires insurers to cover an expanded list of preventive services for many people with private insurance for free. As a result, patients will be able to afford both routine preventive care and necessary treatments.

12 Resources for Clinicians

1. Learn how the Center for Medicare & Medicaid Innovation is working to transform and improve the health care system.
2. Get the latest information on improving care.
3. Video: St. John's Hospital - One Story of Coordinated Care.
4. Learn how you can join the Partnership for Patients.
5. Read an overview of the Community-based Care Transitions Program.
6. Read an overview of the Comprehensive Primary Care Initiative.
7. View recent webinars and forums for clinicians.
8. Get information on the Medicare FFS Physician Feedback Program/Value-Based Payment Modifier.
9. Learn about Primary Care Incentive Payments (PDF - 256 KB).
10. Find out if you're eligible to participate in the EHR Incentive Programs.
11. Explore the Medicare Learning Network Educational Guides.
12. Visit the CMS Physician Center and the CMS Pharmacist Center.
    

Learn more about what the Affordable Care Act means for clinicians →