Insurers Applaud New CMMI Push for Risk-Based Contracting

The Biden administration has revamped the strategy of the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation: In the coming years, CMMI will focus on consolidating models, increasing insurer and provider participation in models, and advancing equity — and it aims to have most Medicare and Medicaid members served by value-based payment models by the end of the decade. Health care insiders applauded the new direction, saying the “strategy refresh” should bring the agency closer to its original mission and make its budget go further.

CMMI has tested more than 50 models since its creation in 2010 as part of the Affordable Care Act. Experts outside the agency have criticized the proliferation of models: The Medicare Payment Advisory Commission (MedPAC) recommended in June that HHS “should implement a more harmonized portfolio of fewer alternative payment models that are designed to work together to support the strategic objectives of reducing spending and improving quality.”