CMS has released the final participant list for its Ambulatory Specialty Model, a mandatory payment model that will tie physicians’ Medicare Part B pay to their performance on low back pain care, starting Jan. 1, 2027.
The low back pain cohort includes 3,319 clinicians, down from about 4,027 on the preliminary list released in February. Participants span 46 states and include orthopedic surgeons, neurosurgeons, pain management physicians, interventional pain physicians, anesthesiologists and physical medicine and rehabilitation physicians.
Under the model, physicians are scored individually on quality, cost, improvement activities and interoperability. The resulting bonus or penalty applies to all of a physician’s Medicare Part B payments, not only those tied to low back pain care…