MINNEAPOLIS, May 27, 2008—The American Medical News reports that Medicare, using its upcoming medical home demonstration project, is preparing to pay participating primary care physicians for the extra work required to manage the care of chronically ill patients.

Now an AMA-convened panel has outlined how those additional payments might work.

The three-year project will operate in up to eight states or regions within states. It is expected to begin paying for medical home activities in January 2010 after recruiting roughly 50 practices per location early next year, according to a CMS official.

According to the AmedNews.com article, the goal is to see whether paying more up front for targeted, continuous and coordinated patient-centered care for chronically ill beneficiaries will save Medicare money over time.

If CMS follows advice offered by an AMA panel, physicians would receive a monthly payment for each beneficiary they enroll in the project -- in addition to any regular pay for Medicare services.

The program would pay extra monthly amounts to offset the increased costs of additional nurse case managers, liability insurance and electronic medical record systems. Total medical home compensation per physician would run in the thousands of dollars per month.

Complete American Medical News article