ABSTRACT #48

Educating Staff And Patients In A Primary Care Geriatric Clinic To Increase Medicare Chronic Care Management Enrollment

Alicia Yang, Rebecca Masutani, Christine Chang, Veronica Rivera

PURPOSE AND GOALS: In 2015, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services instituted Chronic Care Management (CCM) billing codes to allow providers to receive reimbursement for non-face-to-face care provided to Medicare beneficiaries with multiple chronic conditions. In order to receive reimbursement, providers need to enroll patients in this program by obtaining verbal or written consent. In July 2021, we identified low rates of Medicare CCM enrollment in our clinic. Our goal was to educate staff and patients within a primary care geriatric clinic to increase CCM enrollment.

METHODS: In October 2021, we identified perceived staff barriers to CCM enrollment using semi-structured online and print surveys. 37.0% (n=10) of clinic staff expressed a lack of understanding regarding the CCM enrollment process. Based on these results, we initiated a multimodal intervention that consisted of educational huddles held over Zoom and the creation of CCM reference guides for staff. Huddles provided staff with a brief overview of CCM, shared enrollment statistics within the practice, and introduced a new streamlined workflow for enrolling patients in CCM. Clinic staff included physicians, nurse practitioners, nurses, medical assistants, front desk representatives, and social workers. We also developed a written consent form educating patients about CCM.

EVALUATION PLAN: We tallied the number of verbal and written consents obtained from CCM-enrolled patients on a monthly basis. We plan to disseminate a post-intervention survey to gauge staff perspectives regarding barriers to CCM enrollment.

SUMMARY OF RESULTS: In May 2022, only 35.4% (n=1,048) of CCM-eligible patients within the practice were enrolled in CCM. Since the intervention, 137 patients were newly enrolled into CCM from June to October 2022.

REFLECTIVE CRITIQUE: Implementation of a multimodal educational intervention at a primary care geriatric clinic increased the number of patients who were enrolled in Medicare CCM. The results of this project may inform future initiatives to increase CCM enrollment and broaden clinic staff understanding of CCM.