Resources
2019 APG Activity
Check out our Resource Library at https://www.apg.org/education/resources/
2018 APG Activity
January 10, 2018 — CAPG rebrands to America's Physician Groups (APG). The new name better reflects APG's national footprint, with nearly 300 members in 44 states, DC and Puerto Rico. The bold new tagline says it best, APG truly is Taking Responsibility for America's Health. A press release announcing the name change is available here
January 16, 2018 — APG submitted comments on the Medicare Advantage (MA) and Part D proposed rule for contract year 2019. In the comments, APG highlighted the high quality, coordinated care options available in MA and suggested policies CMS could adopt to continue to grow and strengthen MA for the future
January 23, 2018 — APG submitted comments on HHS Secretary Alex Azar's confirmation
January 30, 2018, February 1, 2018 — APG, along with a coalition of stakeholders including AHIP, gathered signatures for Congressional MA sign-on letters. 65 Senators and 298 House Members signed on to letters to CMS highlighting the value of the MA program. The letters provided an important, bipartisan base of support for the program heading into the Part II of the the Advance Notice and Draft Call Letter announcement
February 2, 2018 — APG sent a letter to newly-minted HHS Secretary Alex Azar on APG's 2018 priorities and requests
February 9, 2018 — APG applauds Congress passing, and President Trump signing into law, the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2018 which contained multiple AGP legislative priorities including the CHRONIC Care Act and funding for critical Medicare programs
March 5, 2018 — APG and nearly 340 medical groups and IPAs submitted a letter to CMS Administrator Seema Verma in response to the proposals in the Medicare Advantage Advance Notice and Call Letter for CY 2019
March 5, 2018 — APG submitted technical comments and issued a press release in response to the CY2019 MA Advance Notice and Call Letter
March 12, 2018 — APG joins industry sign-on letter to urge Congress to take up bipartisan legislation that creates robust federal funding for reinsurance programs and stabilizes the nation's insurance markets
March 14, 2018 – APG led both member and non-member Next Gen ACO participants in a meeting with with CMS Administrator Seema Verma. The group described the importance of advanced alternative payment models (APMs) in bringing coordinated care to seniors; shared concerns about recent payment methodology changes; and outlined the Third Option (APG's capitated ACO model concept) as a future destination for delivery system reform
March 16, 2018 — APG presented on the importance of APMs at a NCHC Hill briefing on the value movement
April 6, 2018 – APG, following up on our March Next Gen meeting with CMS Administrator Verma and staff, sent a letter to CMS to reiterate our concerns with the Next Gen coding adjustment and cap. The coding adjustment, announced in December 2017, not only altered the financial model at the last minute, but could ultimately affect the quality care for patients, but also hinders the advancement of the value movement overall
April 9, 2018 – APG President & CEO Don Crane sent a letter to the newly-appointed CMMI Director Adam Boehler congratulating him and outlining several specific APG priorities on which we would like to collaborate
April 19 – 21 – APG hosted its 15th Annual Conference in San Diego, CA. Attendees heard from industry experts including Dr. John Kitzhaber and Dr. Robert Pearl and received updates on issues important to our industry such as social determinants of health, moving from volume to value, opportunities to participate in alternative payment models, and much, much more
April 26, 2018 – APG President & CEO, Don Crane issued a statement applauding CMS for their decision to collaborate with stakeholders to design and implement a direct provider contracting model
May 1, 2018 – APG hosted a webinar on the Medicare Advantage Final Rate Notice and Call Letter. The webinar featured industry experts from the Gorman Health Group
May 7, 2018 – APG President & CEO Don Crane submitted testimony for the record on House Ways and Means Hearing on Innovation in Health Care
May 24, 2018 – America's Physician Groups filed comments in response to a RFI on direct provider contracting (DPC) issued by CMS' Innovation Center (CMMI)
May 25, 2018 – APG joins 8 groups in stakeholder response to CMMI DPC RFI
June 1, 2018 – APG led an industry coalition that sent a letter to Adam Boehler, Director of the CMMI following up on a previous CMS announcement of their intent to implement a MA Advanced APM demo.
June 29, 2018 – APG released a statement on the CMS-announced Medicare Advantage Qualifying Payment Arrangement Incentive (MAQI) Demonstration project
July 23, 2018 – APG member Robert Fields, SVP at Mt. Sinai, presented on behalf of APG a staff-only roundtable held by the House Health Care Innovation Caucus
July 24, 2018 – APG hosted Deep Dive webinar on Medicare Physician Fee Schedule (MPFS) and Quality Payment Program (QPP) proposed rule
July 26, 2018 – Dr. Kurt Ransohoff, CEO of Sansum Clinic and APG Board Chair, testified before the Energy & Commerce Health Subcommittee at a hearing on Thursday, July 26 entitled, MACRA and MIPS: An Update on the Merit-based Incentive Payment System
August 1, 2018 – APG, along with sixteen other industry stakeholders sent a letter to Congress urging them to update the outdated Physician Self-Referral (Stark) Law
August 10, 2018 – APG released a statement on the highly-anticipated proposed rule, announced on August 9, that would make changes to the Medicare Shared Savings Program (MSSP)
August 14, 2018 – APG submitted comments to the House Health Care Innovation Caucus in response to their Request for Information (RFI) on ways Congress can help advance the value movement
August 21, 2018 – APG hosted a Deep Dive webinar on the Medicare Shared Savings Program (MSSP) proposed rule. You can download the recording here and download the slide presentation here
September 4, 2018 – APG filed comments in response to CMS's request for information on the proposed Medicare Advantage Qualifying Payment Arrangement Incentive (MAQI) Demonstration
September 5, 2018 – APG hosted a member-only webinar with special guest Aneesh Chopra who answered questions to help groups model their options in order to leverage the increased flexibility CMS is offering to better define attributed population, network, and data strategy
September 10, 2018 – APG filed comments in response to the CY 2019 Medicare Physician Fee Schedule Proposed Rule
September 20, 2018 – APG joined 80 organizations in sending a letter to CMS requesting that the Special Enrollment Period policy be extended until CMS can permanently correct longstanding issues that continue to cause Medicare enrollment errors—one year, at a minimum
September 27, 2018 – APG coordinated and spearheaded a Congressional sign on letter for Members of the House Ways and Means Committee on the proposed MAQI demonstration and affording participants full advanced APM status and the 5% bonus
