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The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has announced a request for applications (RFA) for the Geographic Direct Contract Model (Geo). The new payment and service delivery model will test whether a geographic-based approach to care delivery and value-based care can improve health and reduce costs for Medicare beneficiaries in selected regions across the country.
Participants will take responsibility for the total cost of care for a portion of all Medicare fee-for-service beneficiaries in a specific region. Geo will be tested over a six-year period in four to 10 regions and will include two three-year model agreement periods, with the first period starting on Jan. 1, 2022. The targeted regions include San Diego and Los Angeles.
The RFA includes details on eligibility and participation requirements and model design elements. CMS will accept applications from March 1-April 2 via an online portal. Further details will be available on the Geo web page in the coming month.
In addition, CMS posted the following resources:
- Geo Data Book
- Geo Data Book Guidance
- Proposed Discount Tool
- Proposed Discount Tool Guidance Document
Questions and comments can be emailed to the Geo team at DCGEO@cms.hhs.gov.
