On April 22, 2019, in a conference room in Washington DC, a small crowd of stakeholders including HCCI's CEO Dr. Tom Cornwell, MD along with members of the press were invited to hear an announcement which house call providers have been working toward and anticipating for more than 15 years. Alex Azar, Secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services along with Seema Verna, Administrator of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), and Adam Boehler, CMMI Senior Advisor to the Secretary announced the "CMS Primary Cares" initiative to empower patients and providers to drive better value and results.
According to the press release, "
Empirical evidence shows that strengthening primary care is associated with higher quality, better outcomes, and lower costs within and across major population subgroups. Despite this evidence, primary care spending accounts for a small portion of total cost of care, and is even lower for patients with complex, chronic conditions.” It is with those patients that home-based primary care can make such a significant difference – both in the patient and caregiver experience and in cost reduction. Many primary care providers also find the home setting preferable as it allows them to develop deeper relationships with their patients – one of the factors identified as an important part of this new initiative.