ACO & MSSP Models

CMS’s new 10-year Long-term Enhanced ACO Design (LEAD) Model is emerging as the strategic focal point for Medicare accountable care, with ACOs facing a May 17, 2026 application deadline for a 2027–2036 model that appears designed to broaden participation while pushing organizations toward longer-horizon risk, infrastructure investment, and population-health capabilities (Wakely). The market is also positioning around LEAD and MSSP participation: convener-backed, geographically dispersed ACOs are drawing scrutiny for high earnings, nursing homes are being pulled into ACO operating models, and technology vendors such as Doximity and Aledade are tying clinical AI to VBC workflows. Meanwhile, NAACOS’s support for congressional action to reduce ACO reporting burden underscores a central tension for CMS and ACO stakeholders: expanding accountable care participation while limiting compliance friction and guarding against model designs that reward financial engineering more than care transformation (Health Affairs