Ready, Set, Go: Helping Physicians Move to Value as MACRA Begins.

Passed with the broad bipartisan support of Congress in 2015, the Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act (MACRA) will bring about comprehensive changes to how Medicare pays for physician services. MACRA aims to accelerate the transformation from fee-for-service payment to alternative payment models that require physicians to assume risk for the cost and quality of care. Given the nation’s unsustainable healthcare costs, MACRA is expected to survive regardless of the outcome of the November presidential and congressional elections. MACRA is critically important legislation for all providers, not just physicians. This column addresses implications and challenges for hospitals and health systems and complements an earlier column by Bosko and Hawkins (2016) that examined implications for physicians and physician groups.