CMMI Models

Provider pushback intensified around CMS’s Ambulatory Specialty Model, with MGMA urging CMS to delay launch over operational readiness, physician burden, and potential access issues—concerns echoed by reporting that the specialty model could disproportionately affect rural patients and ambulatory surgery access (MGMA letter; Becker’s ASC). For ACOs, specialty groups, and payer partners, the immediate VBC implication is that downside-risk specialty payment reform under CMS may face implementation delays or modifications unless CMS addresses rural access protections, data readiness, and provider participation concerns.