The Physician-Focused Payment Model Technical Advisory Committee (PTAC) has recommended Project Sonar, a proposed Physician-Focused Payment Model (PFPM) on Crohn’s Disease to be implemented as a limited-scale pilot program with parameters determined by Secretary Tom Price of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).
In January, DHPA submitted a letter to PTAC in support of the Project Sonar Advanced APM, stating that it would be of tremendous consequence as the physicians in DHPA member practices care for patients with IBD.
In particular, there are four aspects of Project Sonar that DHPA believes make it a PFPM particularly worthy of recommendation:
- Project Sonar enables decreased costs of care for patients with Crohn’s disease by decreasing the complication rate through better medical management;
- Project Sonar enables the identification of high-risk patients with Crohn’s disease before complications ensue;
- Project Sonar enables the channeling of care of patients to those healthcare professionals in practices who have the most knowledge, experience and expertise to address the specific patient’s needs; and
- Project Sonar enables better engagement of patients so that early warning signs can routinely be assessed even before the patients realize they need intervention.
Project Sonar is a powerful tool in improving patients’ quality of life and decreasing costs by reducing potentially avoidable complications, emergency department visits and inpatient admissions.