News: CMS provides annual update on Innovation Center initiative

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) has provided an update on their value-based specialty care initiatives, according to the American Hospital Association.

The “Innovation Center,” launched in 2021, aims to have “100 percent of Traditional Medicare beneficiaries and the vast majority of Medicaid beneficiaries in accountable care relationships by 2030.”

Accountable care, according to CMS, indicates “that a doctor, group of health care providers, or hospitals take responsibility for improving quality of care, care coordination, and health outcomes for a defined group of patients based on a series of population-based metrics and cost based on a financial benchmark.”

The CMS Innovation Center is characterized by four elements:

• Element 1: Enhance specialty care performance data transparency
• Element 2: Maintain momentum on acute episode payment models and condition-based models
• Element 3: Create financial incentives within primacy care for specialist engagement
• Element 4: Create financial incentives for specialists to affiliate with population-based models and move to value-based care

Editor’s note: To read the AHA press release, click here. To read the CMS Innovation Center 2024 update, click here.