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On December 3, 2020, Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) officially announced the release of the Geographic Direct Contracting Model (Geo), a highly anticipated option introduced at the outset of the Direct Contracting program, but subject to additional requests for information. We share industry enthusiasm for the model and appreciate the detailed approach on alignment and clarification on additional benefits.
This model aims to improve quality and lower costs for Medicare beneficiaries across an entire region. For the Geo model, CMS will define a region as a Core Based Statistical Area (CBSA). CMS aims for there to be a minimum of 3 Direct Contracting Entities (DCEs) per region and a maximum of 7, based on the volume of FFS beneficiaries.1
While the following write-up will dive into the specifics of the Geo Model, we will also address some comments and questions from our members with respect to the global and professional models as well.