Specialty VBC Models

Specialty value-based care momentum is shifting from broad primary-care-led attribution toward condition-specific networks and episode accountability, with CMS proposing updates to the Ambulatory Specialty Model for heart failure and stakeholders pressing for clearer specialist roles in risk-bearing arrangements (ACC on CMS heart failure model updates). In kidney care, payers are increasingly narrowing networks around measurable performance, intensifying the competition to define “high value” across cost, outcomes, access, and patient experience rather than referral volume alone (Strive Health on high-value kidney networks).