The COVID-19 public health emergency (PHE) challenged hospital bed capacity severely limiting access to critical medical services in patients’ time of need. In response, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) collaborated with outside experts to develop what
Lessons from CMS’ Acute Hospital Care at Home Initiative
July 2022
- Blog
The Medicare Value-Based Care Strategy: Alignment, Growth, And Equity
Note: This blog was originally posted on HealthAffairs.org on July 21, 2022. Excerpt: As the nation’s largest health care payer, responsible for more than one in five dollars spent on health care within the United States, Medicare plays a key role in transitioning the health care system away from fee-for-service, which incentivizes quantity of care, and towards value-based care, which incentivizes high-quality care and smarter spending. The passage of the Affordable Care Act served as a catalyst for innovative payment and care delivery models that reward better care, smarter spending, and Read more about The Medicare Value-Based Care Strategy: Alignment, Growth, And Equity - Blog
Establishing the Framework for Health Equity at CMS
The CMS Framework for Health Equity depicts how CMS will operationalize efforts to achieve health equity across CMS programs in the next decade. Read more about Establishing the Framework for Health Equity at CMS - Blog
Strengthening Behavioral Health Care for People with Medicare
Note: CMS published a subsequent blog on November 1, 2022, that reflects the behavioral health policies in CMS’ finalized CY 2023 Physician Fee Schedule and Outpatient Prospective Payment System rules. Read the November 1, 2022 blog. COVID-19 has exacerbated the nation’s struggle with mental health and substance use disorders (collectively called “behavioral health conditions”), fueling a full-blown crisis. For some Americans during the pandemic, this has meant feeling depressed and hopeless, making it challenging for them to perform everyday tasks. For older Americans and people with Read more about Strengthening Behavioral Health Care for People with Medicare - Blog
CMS Innovation Center Tackles Implicit Bias
Note: This blog was originally posted on HealthAffairs.org on July 5, 2022. Excerpt: The disparate impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on beneficiaries based on factors such as race, ethnicity, geography, and income, as well as a review of lessons from its first decade of work, led the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) Innovation Center to articulate a new vision: “Achieve equitable outcomes through high quality, affordable, person-centered care.” To realize this vision, the Innovation Center developed a strategic plan organized around five objectives, one of which is to advance Read more about CMS Innovation Center Tackles Implicit Bias