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Is anyone doing the CCM program with AC via Caremerge? I saw a demo on it today and it was compelling. It is probably only worth considering for those who have a lot of Medicare patients like I do. In NM the reimbursement is $40/mo for each enrolled Medicare pt for whom we document 20 mins of non face to face time. I would love to hear feedback from anyone who is currently doing this through AC. Thanks.

We looked at this, but found it too cumbersome and have decided to do this in house.

I also decided against the CCM care merge product after hearing their pitch because it seems that their system does not decrease the burdens of documentation and does add another level of complexity. Meanwhile I had concerns about their fee system. Although it included a strong motivator to capture all your CCM (financial risk), that same model might lead to inappropriate use of CCM. So for a small practice like mine I thought it could be more risk than benefit.
I attempted to piece together a CCM tracking method using the subject headings like "CCM 10 min" in messages, use of templates for documentation, and flags to identify patients who across the 20 minute threshold per month. But it is burdensome and no matter how you cut it, it probably does require someone to manually generate the bills once a month from a flagged list and also to reset the flags.
It takes a little bit of momentum and regular reminders/training to get a boot strap system like this to work and I haven't gotten it off the ground yet. maybe I needed a little bit more stick (Like in the caremerge system) rather than just the carrot.

Stew Mones MD
Solo Practice since 2008
Eugene, OR

Well, I am going for it. I will keep you posted.

I looked at CCM / caremerge and really wanted to make it work. However, it seemed like a lot of work for little money , especially after giving caremerge their cut. There are so many potential "gotchas" in the documentation that bounty hunters doing audits could create nightmares for practices.

Part of the challenge is feeling you have to use multiple different solutions to get all you need done. Definitely, the workflow and the compliant documentation has to make sense. Also we want to provide the care our patients need and not be weighed by financial risk from using solutions that are supposed to help us. MyPHTS Care Management was developed by primary care physicians looking to generate new revenues from providing new services such as Annual Wellness Visits, Chronic Care Management, and Transitional Care Management. MyPHTS has practice improvement opportunities that improve our bottom line while helping us get ready for the MACRA(MIPS) Quality Payment Program. MyPHTS is not an EHR but works with most EHRs. MyPHTS has automated easy to use web based questionnaires and compliant medical documentation that your entire health team can use. Check the link below to learn more. All demos are with a actively practicing physician colleague.

http://myphts.net/contact/

It is the the care of patients that have chronic diseases and health conditions. Starting in 2015, Medicare started to pay providers for non-face-to-face care coordination. This enabled physicians to create comprehensive care management plans for patients with chronic diseases. For more detail about chronic care management https://web.healtharc.io/