Another day, another way to try to save some money on Medicare.

The Obama administration announced Monday a massive pilot program to test a new method of paying primary care physicians for treating Medicare patients. It’s one of a number of initiatives the administration has launched in a broad effort to move Medicare away from the traditional fee-for-service payment model.

The five year pilot will include 20,000 doctors who voluntarily sign up to participate. Half of them will receive about $15 a month for each Medicare patient they oversee, along with a fee for every service they provide. The other half will receive a monthly payment nearly twice as large but will receive smaller fees for services.

Policymakers hope that doctors will deploy the non-service related funds they receive each month to invest time and money in treatment techniques that are not traditionally compensated, such as telephone and video conferences with patients. Many experts view the emergence of easy, remote communication with doctors, nurses, and other medical professionals as an important way to improve patient health and reduce costs.

The administration is further nudging participating doctors in the direction of telehealth solutions by making them commit to providing patients with 24/7 access to a help line or another source of information.

Patrick Conway, chief medical officer of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, has predicted that the lower-fee model could save Medicare about $2 billion annually.

"This is an attempt to balance paying for visits at a reasonable rate and then reimbursing substantially for all the other activities that are necessary to provide care," Robert Berenson, a health policy expert at the Urban Institute, told NPR.

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Medicare tries new payment model for primary care doctors

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