It’s official.

Thought CMS was going to hit pause on implementing the RO Model until things got back to normal? Think again. The RO Model final rule dropped on Friday afternoon. This website is a good starting point to explore the final model. Despite considerable commenting, CMS stuck pretty close to the originally proposed model. Participation will remain mandatory, last for 5 years, and the number of practices impacted will be just slightly lower than originally planned (30% of episodes of care compared to the planned 40%). Here’s a link to the zip codes for practice sites that will be in the model. Payments will remain site neutral (meaning it doesn’t matter if you’re in a hospital or free-standing center) and modality neutral. Proton therapy appears to be included in the model with an exception for patients on federally funded, randomized comparison trials. Table 3 in the final rule includes the base payment rates, which are pretty similar to the initially proposed rates. TBL: The RO Model starts January 1, 2021. | CMS 2020