CMS Seeks to Improve Patients Over Paperwork Initiative 2019

Patients Over Paperwork, an initiative launched in Fall 2017, streamlines regulations to cut the “red tape” burdening the healthcare system which often hinders a clinician’s fundamental mission—patient care. Patients Over Paperwork was established to save money and time, with the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) estimating that as of January of 2019, over 40 million hours and $5.7 billion will be saved through 2021.

What is Patients Over Paperwork?

The objective of Patients Over Paperwork is to put patients first. It establishes internal processes to evaluate and streamline regulations, enhancing efficiency, and improving the patient experience. Its goals are to:

  • Bring satisfaction to users (clinicians, institutional providers, health plans, etc.)
  • Reduce the amount and hours spent on CMS-mandated compliance
  • Increase the number of tasks CMS customers can do digitally

Patients Over Paperwork has a steering committee, which leads the initiatives to reduce the burdens of paperwork. There are also customer-centered workgroups, focusing on the needs of clinicians, beneficiaries, and institutional providers. The process uses journey mapping to capture the customer perspective. Additionally, mechanisms are in place to share what is learned across CMS for the betterment of the process.

Benefits of Patients Over Paperwork

The real benefit and driving force behind Patients Over Paperwork is optimizing workflows so that clinicians can focus on patients, not paperwork. But as noted above, it’s also saving dollars and time. In addition to this initiative, CMS launched Meaningful Measures to boost provider satisfaction, improve patient-provider relationships, and reduce the admin tasks associated with regulatory requirements.

Thus far, the Meaningful Measures initiative has eliminated 79 burdensome, low-value, and redundant measures, achieving a savings of $128 million. CMS also projects that it will reduce administrative task time by 3.3 million hours. Meaningful Measures assisted in the reduction of the burden of federal reporting requirements by enabling providers to submit information digitally. CMS has also incentivized the use of clinical registries as part of the plan.

While reporting an array of measures to payers is a part of the healthcare system that isn’t going away; these initiatives are reducing the hoops that providers have to jump through while simplifying the submission steps, giving clinicians time back for patient engagement and care.

Improving the Initiative: CMS Future Plans

CMS just announced it is seeking public input on Patients Over Paperwork with an RFI (Request for Information). This RFI invites patients and families, the medical community, and healthcare stakeholders to recommend further changes to rules and policies that will continue to allow providers to focus more on patients than administrative tasks.

CMS is looking to improve the initiative with ideas on:

  • Reporting and documentation requirements
  • Coding requirements for CMS payments
  • Prior authorization procedures
  • Policies for rural providers and beneficiaries
  • Requirements for dually enrolled beneficiaries
  • Beneficiary enrollment and eligibility determinations
  • Process for issuing regulations and policies

ChartLogic has been monitoring this initiative since its launch as its closely aligned with our mission to impact patient care through the delivery of superior healthcare IT solutions. We do this with a host of products and services that help practices initiate efficiencies that result in improved patient care, including an award-winning EHR, effective practice management tools, a user-friendly patient portal, and more.

Learn more about ChartLogic’s offerings and how they can be implemented to reduce administrative burdens today.

Follow us on social media for the latest updates in B2B!

Image

Latest

whole health index
Whole Health Index
May 22, 2025

Dr. Sam Ambewadikar returns to break down Anthem’s Whole Health Index (WHI)—a powerful tool that distills medical, social, environmental, and behavioral data into a single score (0–100) to identify members most at risk. By surfacing factors like transportation deserts, housing instability, or food insecurity, WHI enables Anthem care managers and advocates to proactively match members…

Read More
pcp
PCP Attribution Analysis
May 22, 2025

Dr. Sam Ambewadikar, RVP and Medical Director at Anthem National Accounts, joins Brent to unpack the power of primary care attribution analysis—a tool he helped pioneer to spotlight the clinical and financial impact of members not having an established PCP. Drawing from his background as a practicing pediatrician and claims analytics leader, Dr. Sam shares…

Read More
sydney health
Sydney Health Demo
May 22, 2025

In this episode, Christina Firouztash, Executive Advisor of Digital Solutions at Anthem, gives a dynamic walkthrough of the Sydney Health app—Anthem’s flagship digital member experience. Christina showcases how Sydney delivers personalized, simple, and equitable navigation across benefits, including virtual care, pharmacy, financial transparency, and social services access. From contextual chatbots and ID card access to…

Read More
pharmacy
Pharmacy Part 1
May 22, 2025

In this episode, Brent chats with Katie Brennan, National Sales Director at CarelonRx, about making pharmacy benefits more accessible, consistent, and member-friendly. Katie spotlights Carelon new advanced home delivery model, which brings the pharmacy counter—and the pharmacist—into the member’s home. With fewer retail pharmacies offering extended hours and many patients lacking reliable transportation, CarelonRx is…

Read More