We were delighted when the National Academy of Medicine invited Michigan Multipayer Initiatives to their May 20-21 meeting in Washington DC to share recommendations for improving federal primary care policy. Diane Marriott, DrPH, presented on lessons learned from the history of multipayer primary care demonstrations in Michigan, and thoughts for CMS and CMMI’s consideration in formulating ongoing approaches. You can see all the sessions from the meeting as well as the speaker slide decks at https://www.nationalacademies.org/event/42471_05-2024_standing-committee-on-primary-care-may-meeting. For extra credit, the presentation from Michigan is in Segment Two of the Day One proceedings.
The meeting was one in a series catalyzed by the National Academy of Science, Engineering and Medicine’s (NASEM’s) landmark Instituting High-Quality Primary Care issued in 2021. Since then it has been lauded as a roadmap to supporting success for primary care and the patients it serves. The report reminds us our focus should be on teams delivering whole-person care and the importance of reformulating payment for primary care so that a portion is paid prospectively for each patient attributed to a practice so that they can do the real work of comprehensively meeting patient needs and keeping people well.
Just issuing a report doesn’t get the job done, and NASEM’s Standing Committee on Primary Care focuses on catalyzing forward movement and engaging with federal agencies, non-governmental stakeholders, and other experts to wayfind solutions to the most pressing issues in primary care financing, payment, and access.
The work doesn’t end here. It takes all of us working together to improve care delivery, integration of social care servicing, transform payment to primary care practices, and support patients and caregivers. It’s a big job and we’ve made some real progress together, but there is so much more to do to make the aspirations of the Implementing High Quality Primary Care report become fully realized in Michiganders.
Michigan Multipayer Initiatives 