Note: This blog was originally posted on HealthAffairs.org on August 12, 2021.
Excerpt: As incoming leaders at CMS under a new administration, we have taken stock of lessons learned from the first ten years of the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation’s operation and begun to chart a path for the next ten years of value-based care.
In 2010, the Affordable Care Act (ACA) created the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation (Innovation Center). The Innovation Center aims to create a more value-based system that reduces spending while preserving or enhancing quality of care. As staff who worked on drafting and implementing the ACA and on innovations at the state level, we knew that rising health care costs posed a threat to Medicare’s financial sustainability, state Medicaid budgets, and household spending, and we also knew that our fragmented and siloed health system was not delivering the best care for the money we were spending. We knew that we needed innovative solutions to bend the cost curve and ensure that every American had access to high-quality health care.
Ten years later, President Biden has come into office on a promise to expand access to health care and lower costs. We have an opportunity to reflect on the Innovation Center’s past accomplishments as well as its future.