The Connecticut State Medical Society (CSMS) joined more than 100 state and national medical specialty societies in letters submitted to the CMS Administrator and to the CMS regulatory comments site.

The first letter lays out principles CMS should follow in designing regulations to implement the Medicare Access and Chip Reauthorization Act (MACRA). Full text of the letter is available at http://www.ama-assn.org/resources/doc/washington/x-pub/macra-sign-on-letter-16nov2015.pdf. CSMS and some other medical societies have asked the AMA to provide further detail on particular items and issues.

Additionally, the group submitted a request for information (RFI) on MACRA implementation. Full text of this letter is available at:http://www.ama-assn.org/resources/doc/washington/x-pub/macra-letter-17nov2015.pdf. The detailed comments are an expanded version of prototype responses developed by work groups comprised of state and specialty societies representatives, as well as the AMA.

CSMS leadership received this information for review prior to release, and found them to be quite detailed. While the letters do not encompass all CSMS concerns, they do bring to the forefront many of the issues regarding practice transformation, quality of care, performance measurement, and MACRA. The letters also address some CSMS concerns tied to the CT State Innovation Model (SIM) process.  CSMS physician leaders appreciated the opportunity to participate in the review and comment process.