On January 9, 2018, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) announced Bundled Payments for Care Improvement Advanced (BPCI-Advanced), a forthcoming Medicare bundled payment program that pays physicians and health care organizations for a defined episode of care, instead of individual services, to encourage clinicians and hospitals to improve quality and lower costs.
Prior to the announcement, the future of bundled payment programs under the Trump administration appeared unclear. Former secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Tom Price and CMS administrator Seema Verma were openly critical of several mandatory bundled payment programs designed under the Obama administration. Under their direction, mandatory models aimed at bundling cardiac care were cancelled and an existing orthopaedic joint replacement model was substantially scaled back.