The US Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) recently announced an initiative that will reportedly offer $850 million in funding to provider networks, professionals associations, and other organizations that are providing education and training in the transition to value-based healthcare, according to an American Physical Therapy Association (APTA) news release.

The APTA news release notes that according to a CMS fact sheet, the 4-year project, the Transforming Clinical Practice Initiative, is intended to “support clinician practice through nationwide, collaborative, and peer-based learning networks that facilitate practice transformation.”

The funding will be awarded in two general areas. The release states that the first is “practice transformation networks” that involve peer-to-peer learning. The second is “support and alignment networks” that involve learning opportunities created by professional associations, societies, and other organizations.

CMS visualizes, the release says, successful practice transformation network applicants as those that have relationships and share data with multiple clinician practices, and can lead “clinicians and their practices through the transformation process.”

The release notes that according to CMS, CMS-funded support and alignment networks will be organizations that generate evidence-based guidelines, promoting measurement, supporting efforts to reduce unnecessary testing and procedures, and “effectively incorporating safety and patient and family engagement.”

Applicants are encouraged by CMS to submit a letter of intent by November 20, with completed applications due by January 6, 2015. The awards are slated to be announced in the spring or summer of 2015, the release says.

Source: APTA