The Department of Health and Human Services, acting through the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, implemented a three-year project intended to support the transformation of federally qualified health centers (FQHCs) into advanced primary care practices (APCPs) in support of Medicare beneficiaries. RAND is assessing the effects on access, quality, and cost of care provided to Medicare and Medicaid beneficiaries.

Evaluation of CMS's Federally Qualified Health Center (FQHC) Advanced Primary Care Practice (APCP) Demonstration

Final Second Annual Report

Katherine L. Kahn, Justin W. Timbie, Mark W. Friedberg, Tara Lavelle, Peter Mendel, J. Scott Ashwood, Liisa Hiatt, Ian Brantley, Beverly A. Weidmer, Afshin Rastegar, et al.

ResearchPublished Jul 29, 2015

In December 2009, President Barack Obama directed the Department of Health and Human Services, acting through the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), to implement a three-year demonstration intended to support the transformation of federally qualified health centers (FQHCs) into advanced primary care practices (APCPs) in support of Medicare beneficiaries. RAND is conducting an independent evaluation of the FQHC APCP demonstration for CMS. The evaluation includes studying the processes and challenges involved in transforming FQHCs into APCPs and assessing the effects of the APCP model on access, quality, and cost of care provided to Medicare and Medicaid beneficiaries currently served by FQHCs. This is the second of three annual reports on this project.

Key Findings

Interim Findings Show More Sites Achieving National Committee for Quality Assurance (NCQA) Recognition

  • Though sites had a slow start in achieving NCQA Level 3 recognition, significantly more demonstration than comparison FQHCs (69 percent versus 11 percent) achieved NCQA Level 3 recognition by October 2014.
  • Preliminary analyses show significant differences between demonstration and comparison FQHCs for most measured claims-based metrics, but no differences for most beneficiary survey--based metrics.

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Document Details

Citation

RAND Style Manual
Kahn, Katherine L., Justin W. Timbie, Mark W. Friedberg, Tara Lavelle, Peter Mendel, J. Scott Ashwood, Liisa Hiatt, Ian Brantley, Beverly A. Weidmer, Afshin Rastegar, Aaron Kofner, Rosalie Malsberger, Mallika Kommareddi, Denise D. Quigley, and Claude Messan Setodji, Evaluation of CMS's Federally Qualified Health Center (FQHC) Advanced Primary Care Practice (APCP) Demonstration: Final Second Annual Report, RAND Corporation, RR-886/1-CMS, 2015. As of September 18, 2024: https://www.rand.org/pubs/research_reports/RR886z1.html
Chicago Manual of Style
Kahn, Katherine L., Justin W. Timbie, Mark W. Friedberg, Tara Lavelle, Peter Mendel, J. Scott Ashwood, Liisa Hiatt, Ian Brantley, Beverly A. Weidmer, Afshin Rastegar, Aaron Kofner, Rosalie Malsberger, Mallika Kommareddi, Denise D. Quigley, and Claude Messan Setodji, Evaluation of CMS's Federally Qualified Health Center (FQHC) Advanced Primary Care Practice (APCP) Demonstration: Final Second Annual Report. Santa Monica, CA: RAND Corporation, 2015. https://www.rand.org/pubs/research_reports/RR886z1.html.
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