CMS responded to concerns raised by the Graham Center about important limitations of Medicare Primary Care Incentive Program, or PCIP, in the Affordable Care Act by modifying the eligibility criteria.
In 2009, a white paper by the Robert Graham Center demonstrated that the narrow definition of primary care used for proposed Medicare Bonus eligibility would exclude nearly 40% of family physicians and the majority of general internists. This led to an initial raising of the eligibility threshold in the Affordable Care Act. Subsequent analyses supported by the Office of Rural Health Policy and the American Board of Family Medicine demonstrated a bias against rural primary care physicians who have a broader scope of practice to meet patient needs. CMS modified its implementation rules this week, which will expand eligibility.
