The ACCESS Model is designed to expand tech-enabled care for Medicare beneficiaries with certain chronic conditions, aligning payments with outcomes for better patient health. What’s the impact? A Medicare model targeting conditions like hypertension, diabetes, chronic pain, and depression with scalable, tech-supported solutions. Providers, tech firms, and health systems gain new reimbursement pathways; applications open…

For over a decade, stakeholders across the healthcare industry have told a story of transformation. The healthcare industry has daydreamed about value-based care. We’ve nodded along (and sometimes nodded off) at conferences as visions of transformation were illustrated with elaborate slide decks, and applauded pilot programs that promise to finally—finally—align payment with patient outcomes. And…

The Medicare Shared Savings Program (MSSP) is the largest federal initiative that promotes accountable care and value-based payment models. A central design feature of the program is its tiered approach to financial risk. ACOs generally begin in one-sided models and share in a portion of the savings generated but are insulated from losses if costs…

The Medicare Shared Savings Program (MSSP) is the largest federal initiative that promotes accountable care. Accountable care organizations (ACOs) represent groups of clinicians that take responsibility for patients’ health outcomes and costs. Evidence from MSSP shows that ACOs taking on downside risk have better cost and quality outcomes, but there is not currently a permanent…

All of us can see glaring issues with the healthcare system that need to be addressed — but system-level change is hard. The leap to VBC isn’t easy, but the results are undeniable. I practiced nephrology in eastern North Carolina for nearly 25 years. Like many of my colleagues, I went into medicine to give…

Sound Long-Term Care Management (SLTCM), an accountable care organization (ACO) participating in the Medicare Shared Savings Program, reported $113.985 million in total savings for performance year 2024, according to newly released results. The ACO, which focuses on long-term care and assisted-living populations, is among the facility-based groups showing substantial year-over-year savings as CMS continues to push for broader participation…

When the conversation shifts toward value-based care (VBC), hospital systems find themselves in a delicate balancing act. On one hand, VBC strategies compel providers to prioritize preventive, coordinated, and holistic care to improve outcomes and reduce avoidable acute care utilization. On the other, hospital systems are largely embedded in a fee-for-service (FFS) environment, where inpatient…