Perspectives of Physicians in Small Rural Practices on the Medicare Quality Payment Program

The objectives of this research effort were to collect feedback through interviews with physicians in small rural practices on the initial implementation of Medicare’s Quality Payment Program in 2017, a new value-based purchasing program for Medicare physicians. RAND's findings suggest that small rural practices are struggling to participate in the QPP due to program complexity and limited resources in these practices. These findings can help in interpreting the first-year QPP participation and performance results, and inform potential policy changes.