The House-passed state budget bill, Substitute House Bill (Sub. HB) 49, abolishes the Ohio Comprehensive Primary Care (CPC) program. Send a message via the American Academy of Family Physicians’ Speak Out system letting your state senator know that you want funding for Ohio’s CPC (CPC) program reinstated in the state budget bill.
On May 11, the Ohio Academy of Family Physicians sent a letter to all 33 Ohio Senators asking that they restore funding for the program. The letter reads as follows:
On behalf of the 4,900 family physician, family medicine resident, and medical student members of the OAFP, we are writing to ask the Senate to reinstate funding for the Ohio CPC program in the state budget bill, Sub. HB 49.
Over the past seven years, the state of Ohio has worked hard to transition its health care system to value-based payment and a care delivery system in which every Ohioan has a patient-centered medical home that provides comprehensive, coordinated, and continued care – and we have made good progress. Abolishing Ohio’s CPC program is the antithesis to all of those efforts.
This program financially rewards practices that hold down costs by preventing disease and managing chronic conditions. Launched in January 2017, 92 primary care practices earn an additional $4 per member per month on average by engaging in activities that are known to keep patients well. These practices also have the opportunity to earn a performance bonus if they hold down the total cost of care while meeting efficiency and quality targets which focus on maternal and infant health, mental health and addiction, and chronic disease. The program planned to expand statewide in 2018.
The Executive Budget, as introduced, includes $51.6 million ($13.6 million state) in 2018 and $72.0 million ($19.1 million state) in 2019 to support practices already enrolled in Ohio CPC. As a result of the House’s action to eliminate $32.7 million in state funding for Ohio CPC, Ohio stands to lose $90.9 million in federal funds that are already approved for the Ohio CPC program. The state would also have to repay $9.3 million in federal funds that have already been spent on Ohio CPC practices in addition to losing the savings generated by Ohio CPC’s success at achieving better care coordination outcomes.
The consequences of abolishing the Ohio CPC program are dire for patients and make no sense from a state budgeting standpoint. Please reinstate funding for the Ohio CPC program in the Senate version of Sub. HB 49.
OAFP Public Policy Committee Chair Randy Wexler, MD, will be testifying before the Senate Finance Health and Medicaid Subcommittee on Wednesday, May 17, in support of reinstating funding to the Ohio CPC program.
The SpeakOut system is quick and easy to use—contact your senator today!