Medicare & CMS Programs

Over the past week, CMS accelerated momentum in Medicare value-based care by selecting 150 participants—including digital health companies and provider groups—for the Advancing Chronic Care with Effective, Scalable Solutions (ACCESS) Model, a new 10-year voluntary payment program aligning reimbursement with chronic disease outcomes using technology-enabled services. At the same time, CMS proposed a nationwide relaunch and expansion of the mandatory Joint Replacement Bundled Payment Model (CJR-X), signaling a parallel push towards more ambitious, risk-bearing arrangements in hospital and post-acute care. These moves reflect CMS’s dual strategy: supporting innovative, tech-driven chronic condition management through voluntary models, while also increasing mandatory bundled payment requirements—intensifying provider and ACO focus on both collaborative models and operational readiness for mandatory risk. See CMS announces 150 participants for ACCESS model and CMS Proposes Resurrection and Nationwide Expansion of Mandatory Joint Replacement Bundled Payment Model (CJR-X).