The American Society of Nephrology (ASN) has developed a Kidney Care First (KCF) Model Calculator, a tool that will help nephrologists anticipate how their practices might perform if they choose to participate in the new payment program.
The KCF option is part of the Kidney Care Choices (KCC) model, which was created in response to the Executive Order on Advancing American Kidney Health (AAKH). The KCF Option is a voluntary payment model designed to create new incentives and focus on upstream treatment of kidney diseases.
Using the calculator, nephrologists can compare their practice's current Monthly Capitated Payment (MCP) to an Adjusted MCP (AMCP), which will be used in place of the regular MCP in the KCF option. The calculator also offers three options to help users compare their current reimbursement for CKD 4 and 5 patients to a Quarterly Capitated Payment (QCP) that will be used in the model to encourage more kidney care earlier in the progression of kidney diseases, before a person reaches kidney failure.
"The calculator is meant to be a guide, but it cannot factor in every variable that might affect a nephrology practice," said David L. White, ASN Regulatory and Quality Officer. "We wanted to give nephrologists a tool that could shed some light on how their practice might fare in the program. ASN welcomes the government's focus on kidney care and its efforts to improve the lives of people with kidney diseases."
The calculator also allows a practice to make assumptions about how it will perform in the Quality Metrics portion of the program. The calculator does not address the Comprehensive Kidney Care Contracting (CKCC) options in the KCC model.
Applications to participate in the KCF Option close on Wednesday, January 22, 2020.
The calculator is available at:
https://www.asn-online.org/g/blast/files/KCF_Model_Calculator.xlsx
Kidney-CHAMP framework provides equitable access and overcomes barriers to kidney disease care