Healthcentric Advisors wins federal contract

PROVIDENCE – To help small New England-based physicians and eligible clinical practices prepare for and participate in the new Quality Payment Program, a five-year federal contract has been granted to Healthcentric Advisors and its partner organization, Qualidigm, by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, according to a statement by the company on Tuesday.

QPP was established by the Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act of 2015, which also funded technical assistance provided by companies like Healthcentric and Qualidigm.

The award made to Healthcentric Advisors and Qualidigm is one of 11, which make up a $20 million investment by CMS during the first year of the five-year contracts. The federal organization expects to invest up to an additional $80 million in total over the remaining four years.

Under the new contract, Healthcentric, which is headquartered in Providence with satellite offices in Woburn, Mass., and Brunswick, Maine, will serve as the prime CMS contractor and lead organization for Rhode Island, Massachusetts and Maine. Wethersfield, Conn.-based Qualidigm serves in a similar role for Connecticut, New Hampshire and Vermont.

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Technical assistance and support services provided by Healthcentric regarding QPP will be known as the New England Quality Payment Program Support Center and will be targeted to Merit-based Incentive Payment System eligibility clinicians – those medical practices and clinics employing 15 or fewer clinicians and those in rural areas experiencing a health professional shortage.

Dr. Kate Goodrich, CMS chief medical officer and director of the Center for Clinical Standards and Quality, in a prepared statement characterized health practitioners in rural areas as “critical” to serving Medicare beneficiaries.

The statement further read: “Congress, through the bipartisan Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act, recognized the importance of small practices and rural practices and provided the funding for this assistance, so clinicians in these practices can navigate the new program, while being able to focus on what matters most – the needs of their patients.”

Direct technical assistance is available immediately, free to MIPS-eligible clinicians and will last for up to a five-year period.

Eligible physicians and clinicians can contact the New England Quality Payment Program Support Center at NEQPPSURS@healthcentricadvisors.org.

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