Kidney Care Models

Kidney value-based care activity is centering on the next phase of CMMI’s Kidney Care Choices model, with Strive Health circulating a PY2026 KCC participant list while positioning patient-centric kidney management as the operating model for slowing CKD progression and managing ESRD risk. The week’s signals point to intensifying competition among nephrology enablement companies, dialysis organizations, and digital kidney platforms to own longitudinal CKD care, with VBC success increasingly dependent on earlier risk identification, guideline-directed therapies, transportation and access supports, and integrated care management rather than dialysis volume alone. For ACOs and payers, the strategic tension is whether kidney specialty partners can produce measurable total-cost-of-care savings under models like KCC while also absorbing operational burdens surfaced in care-delivery.