Under the Affordable Care Act, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services is initiating a new provision that is designed to help primary care practices deliver better patient-centered care.

As part of this provision, Medicare is partnering with both commercial and state health insurance plans to offer supplementary support to primary care doctors who offer more coordinated patient care. This joint effort, which is referred to as the Comprehensive Primary Care initiative, is based on practices conducted by large employers as well as the top private health insurers in the private sector.

This will start as a demonstration project that will be available in five to seven health care markets throughout the nation, and public and private health care payers that are interested in participating must submit a letter of intent by Nov. 15. Of those selected markets, Medicare and its partners will enroll interested primary care providers into the effort.