MAHA ELEVATE (Make America Healthy Again: Enhancing Lifestyle and Evaluating Value-based Approaches Through Evidence) Model

MAHA ELEVATE Model Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO)

The NOFO is now available at: https://grants.gov/search-results-detail/361494. Applicants must submit a mandatory Letter of Intent by April 10, 2026. The application deadline is May 15, 2026.

The Make America Healthy Again: Enhancing Lifestyle and Evaluating Value-based Approaches Through Evidence (MAHA ELEVATE) Model is part of the Administration’s bold plan to reform America’s health systems to address the chronic disease epidemic. The model will provide approximately $100 million to fund 3-year cooperative agreements for up to 30 proposals that promote health and prevention for Original Medicare beneficiaries. The proposals will utilize evidence-based, whole-person care approaches — including functional or lifestyle medicine interventions — currently not covered by Original Medicare. These approaches are intended to support, not replace, the medical care received by people with Medicare. MAHA ELEVATE will also gather and evaluate new data on cost and quality to inform future interventions promoting healthy lifestyle behaviors and ultimately reduce spending in Original Medicare. The first cohort of this voluntary model will launch October 2026.

Key Points
Problem: Whole-person functional or lifestyle medicine interventions, including those focused on nutrition and physical activity, may slow or prevent chronic disease; however, more evidence is needed to understand which interventions work best for older populations and can be applied across Original Medicare to promote healthy lifestyles. Solution: The MAHA ELEVATE Model will evaluate up to 30 evidence-based proposals with proven success to determine which may best support conventional care and suit the health promotion and disease prevention needs of people with Original Medicare. Outcomes: Interventions tested in MAHA ELEVATE will inform future Original Medicare coverage determinations or potential future CMS Innovation Center models designed to improve the health of beneficiaries and cut health care costs. Strategy: By testing whole-person approaches to care, MAHA ELEVATE aims to help transform the U.S. health care system to one that proactively addresses the root causes of chronic disease rather than reactively addressing symptoms.

Key Points

Problem: Whole-person functional or lifestyle medicine interventions, including those focused on nutrition and physical activity, may slow or prevent chronic disease; however, more evidence is needed to understand which interventions work best for older populations and can be applied across Original Medicare to promote healthy lifestyles.
Solution: The MAHA ELEVATE Model will evaluate up to 30 evidence-based proposals with proven success to determine which may best support conventional care and suit the health promotion and disease prevention needs of people with Original Medicare.
Outcomes: Interventions tested in MAHA ELEVATE will inform future Original Medicare coverage determinations or potential future CMS Innovation Center models designed to improve the health of beneficiaries and cut health care costs.
Strategy: By testing whole-person approaches to care, MAHA ELEVATE aims to help transform the U.S. health care system to one that proactively addresses the root causes of chronic disease rather than reactively addressing symptoms.

Model Details

MAHA ELEVATE will evaluate impacts on cost and quality of evidence-based whole-person care, including functional or lifestyle medicine interventions, in an Original Medicare population.

Background

In 2022, approximately 45% of people with Medicare had four or more chronic conditions, and people with chronic conditions accounted for nearly 90% of total health care spending. The American health system primarily focuses on treating the symptoms of these conditions and managing diseases.

Through this model, CMS aims to address the core lifestyle choices and human behaviors that are associated with the prevention of chronic disease. Preventive measures begin with empowering people to build healthy practices they can sustain outside of clinicians’ offices to help meet their health goals. Over time, this approach is expected to lead to a healthier population and to lower health care costs.

Goals

MAHA Elevate aims to:

Establish in Original Medicare a novel U.S. evidence base — featuring cost and quality data — on the effectiveness of whole-person functional or lifestyle medicine approaches to care, including psychological, nutritional and physical interventions.
Empower patients to take control of their health through lifestyle changes.
Prevent illness and promote wellness through novel approaches to supporting people in behavior changes aimed at improving health or slowing and/or reversing disease progression.

Innovation

MAHA ELEVATE is the first Innovation Center model to focus on proactive, holistic, patient-centered functional or lifestyle medicine approaches to support conventional care. It combines psychological, nutritional, and physical interventions along with self-care strategies to address the whole person rather than individual disease, to help promote wellness and prevent illness. Critical areas of focus include nutrition, physical activity, sleep, stress management, harmful substance avoidance, and social connection.

Design

CMS will fund up to 30 cooperative agreements through MAHA ELEVATE, with a total budget of approximately $100 million over a 3-year performance period to collect quality and cost data on whole-person functional or lifestyle medicine interventions, as a support to — not in lieu of — conventional medicine. Proposals should include services not already covered by Original Medicare but with documented evidence of the intervention’s efficacy. The cooperative agreements will be awarded to organizations with experience integrating and measuring the impact of such approaches to health and wellness, with scientifically documented improvements in health.

Awardees will work with CMS to create a plan for data collection, quality, measurement, recruitment and cost containment.

All proposals must incorporate nutrition or physical activity as part of the design. Three awards will be reserved for interventions that address dementia.

Cooperative agreements will be awarded in two rounds for two separate cohorts — one starting in 2026 and the second in 2027.

Recipient Information

Frequently Asked Questions

Where can the required letter of intent (LOI) and Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO) application be found? When are they due?

Before applying, a letter of intent (LOI) is required. LOIs must be submitted to the MAHA ELEVATE Letter of Intent Portal by Friday, April 10, 2026. The Notice of Funding Opportunity and MAHA ELEVATE Model Application will be available on grants.gov through Friday, May 15, 2026.

How will CMS evaluate proposal submissions?

Proposals should include whole-person care, including functional or lifestyle services not already covered by Original Medicare but with documented scientific evidence of the intervention’s safety, efficacy and cost impact for the target population. Each proposal must include a nutrition or physical activity component. Applicants should also provide data showing outcomes from their own program implementation prior to applying. Applicants must demonstrate past experience with data collection or the ability to accurately collect and report all required data from beneficiary enrollees in a timely manner, with appropriate data protections in place for beneficiaries and an understanding of how to store and analyze data with model goals in mind.

Can I speak with CMS to get more information or brief CMS about my proposal during the application period? How can I stay up to date on developments regarding this NOFO and model?

To keep this competitive process fair, CMS does not hold individual meetings, calls, or briefings with applicants during the open application period. All questions must be submitted in writing through the channels listed in the Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO). Answers to common questions may be posted publicly so all applicants have access to the same information. CMS may also host public informational webinars. Visit the MAHA ELEVATE webpage and subscribe to the MAHA ELEVATE Model listserv for updates.

Is my specific type of organization eligible for this model?

Applicants must confirm their organization’s eligibility by reading all eligibility requirements and selection criteria in the NOFO. Some types of organizations that may be eligible, pending all other criteria outlined in the NOFO, include:

Organizations serving Medicare Advantage patients; however, cooperative agreement funds awarded under this model are only for the provision of services to Original Medicare patients.
Health systems serving Veterans Affairs (VA) patients and local and state government facilities
Assisted living facilities, senior living communities, skilled nursing facilities, and home health agencies
Digital health companies, mobile app entities, or similar technology-focused organizations; however, because this model has significant recruitment, data, and reporting requirements, these organizations may want to consider partnering with other health care entities to help meet all program expectations.

Can organizations submit multiple applications?

Yes. While CMS aims to fund a wide range of applicants for comprehensive testing, individual organizations may submit multiple proposals and receive multiple awards; however, each proposed intervention must be substantially distinct. CMS may ask single applicant organizations to combine related proposals into a single, comprehensive proposal.

What are the expectations around clinical oversight, partnerships, or interpersonal collaboration within applicant organizations?

Applicants do not need to be a clinical organization to apply. However, all applicants will be required to confirm that patients enrolled in their program are Original Medicare beneficiaries, and organizations that do not directly provide clinical care are strongly encouraged to partner with a provider or care organization that does. Partnership documentation will be required as part of the application when applicable.

Are there specific credentialing or team composition requirements for staff working under this model?

MAHA ELEVATE does not have additional credentialing or team composition requirements for applicants, however, all staff members working within the applicant organization must hold the appropriate credentials for their role and scope of practice as applicable. This includes holding any required licensure, certifications, and any other applicable qualifications. Applicant organizations are responsible for ensuring that their staff meet these standards.

Is Medicare enrollment required to apply and participate in MAHA-ELEVATE?

Medicare enrollment is not required to apply for this model. However, if you will provide covered Medicare services to patients as part of your program, you must be enrolled in Medicare by the model start date.

What kinds of services can MAHA ELEVATE funds be used for?

MAHA ELEVATE funds can be used to pay for the provision of whole-person functional or lifestyle (whole-person FLM) services for Original Medicare beneficiaries that are not currently covered by Original Medicare. These funds may be used to cover administrative costs, data collection and reporting, and infrastructure as appropriate.

These funds may not be used to provide covered services to Original Medicare beneficiaries. Covered services that are part of the proposed intervention should be paid through normal Medicare billing procedures. These funds also cannot be used to cover food. Please see the NOFO for full details on allowable and unallowable costs.

Does current participation in another Innovation Center model disqualify an entity from applying for MAHA ELEVATE?

Organizations participating in other active CMS Innovation Center models may apply for MAHA ELEVATE and will be assessed for participation on a case-by-case basis.

Will receiving services from a MAHA ELEVATE recipient change Original Medicare coverage or costs?
No, receiving functional or lifestyle medicine services from MAHA ELEVATE recipients does not change Medicare benefits, coverage or rights. Patients keep all standard Medicare protections and can continue to see any Original Medicare provider. Further, these interventions are designed to complement or augment, but not replace, traditional medical care.

How does MAHA ELEVATE support patient safety?

MAHA ELEVATE embeds strong safeguards to support beneficiary safety and choice, beginning with the application process. Proposals including interventions with evidence of, or substantial risk of, harm will be excluded. CMS will monitor recipient programs for patient safety concerns and may disenroll recipients who fail to meet quality or safety standards. Additional details regarding patient safety requirements will be available in the Notice of Funding Opportunity.

How will CMS protect my personal health information?
MAHA ELEVATE recipients must comply with all Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) privacy and security requirements. CMS follows strict federal standards to protect beneficiary information used for care coordination, reporting, and evaluation.

Additional Information

For additional information and updates specifically about the MAHA ELEVATE Model, please subscribe to the MAHA ELEVATE listserv.
Contact the MAHA ELEVATE team at mahaelevate@cms.hhs.gov.
For CMS Innovation Center updates, subscribe to the CMS Innovation Center listserv.

Visit our Innovation Model webpage for a list of all CMS Innovation Center model tests.

MAHA ELEVATE (Make America Healthy Again: Enhancing Lifestyle and Evaluating Value-based Approaches Through Evidence) Model

Model Details

Recipient Information

Frequently Asked Questions

Additional Information

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