Specialty VBC

CMS is sharpening specialty VBC around discrete, measurable episodes: the Trump administration’s proposed updates to the Ambulatory Specialty Model for heart failure signal a push to make cardiology specialists more accountable for outpatient quality, utilization, and total-cost performance, extending VBC pressure beyond primary care and ACO attribution models (ACC summary). In kidney care, payers and specialty platforms are moving from broad investment toward narrower “high-value” nephrology networks, but the unresolved tension is whether current interventions are aimed early enough and tightly enough to reduce