From the CMS News Release:

On October 24, 2011, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services announced that 500 Federally Qualified Health Centers (FQHC) have been selected for the FQHC Advanced Primary Care Practice (APCP) demonstration project from over 800 applicants. The initiative is designed to evaluate the impact of the advanced primary care practice model, also known as the patient-centered medical home, on improving health, improving quality of care, and lowering the cost of care provided to Medicare beneficiaries served by FQHCs.

In addition, health centers will use this funding to expand their hours, make same day appointments and accommodate patients with urgent care needs.

500 community health centers in 44 States across the country will receive approximately $42 million over three years to improve the coordination and quality of care they deliver to people with Medicare and other patients.

The demonstration will be conducted from November 1, 2011 through October 31, 2014. Participating health centers will be paid a monthly fee for each eligible person with Medicare that receives primary care services. The CMS Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation (Innovation Center) and the Health Resources Services Administration (HRSA) will provide technical assistance to help participating community health centers throughout the demonstration.

To study the process and challenges involved in transforming community health centers into advanced primary care practices, the Innovation Center will conduct an independent evaluation of the demonstration. The evaluation will assess the project’s impact on hospital admission rates, emergency department visits rates, access, quality and cost of care provided to Medicare beneficiaries. The evaluation will also assess whether the demonstration was cost effective.

This Advanced Primary Care Practice demonstration is operated by the Innovation Center in partnership with HRSA. It is one of a number of initiatives made possible by the Affordable Care Act to help bring better health and better health care not just to Medicare beneficiaries, but to all Americans, while helping use healthcare dollars more wisely.

Health centers improve the health of the nation and assure access to quality primary health care services at more than 8,100 service delivery sites around the country. They are also an integral source of local employment and economic growth in many underserved and low-income communities. Since the beginning of 2009, health centers across the country have added more than 18,600 new full-time positions in many of the nation’s most economically distressed communities. In 2010, they employed more than 131,000 staff and new funds, made available by the Affordable Care Act in September, will help create thousands more jobs nationwide.

For more information on how the Affordable Care Act is finding better ways to improve healthcare, visit www.HealthCare.gov.

More information on the Advanced Primary Care Practice demonstration project, including a fact sheet, and a list of participating health centers can be found here.

Review the CMS Fact Sheet here.

View the entire press release here.