Medicare Advantage & CMS

CMS is pushing Medicare VBC in two directions at once: expanding mandatory episode-based accountability through a proposed nationwide redesign of the Comprehensive Care for Joint Replacement model, while advancing tech-enabled chronic care models such as ACCESS and TEMPO that could bring AI-enabled care management into Traditional Medicare reimbursement. The week’s tension is operational scalability—ACOs, nursing homes, specialty groups, and digital health vendors see new opportunities, but stakeholders are also flagging reporting burden, model participation barriers, and uneven readiness to absorb CMS’ faster move from voluntary pilots to broader payment transformation. See: CMS proposes knee and hip replacements and ACCESS/TEMPO technology-enabled care.