Access Granted: CMS Greenlights More Than 150 Participants for Chronic Care Experiment

It offers predefined payments to participating organizations based on measurable health outcomes rather than per-technology service.

• The ACCESS model, an experimental Medicare initiative, seeks to broaden access to technology-enabled chronic care.

Participants include mental health apps, wearable device makers, a life sciences firm linked to Google, and startups that assist large health systems in managing heart failure patients.

The initial cohort enrollment deadline was April 1, with an extension announced by CMMI to accommodate additional entrants.

• More than 150 companies and providers have received provisional approval to join ACCESS.
• CMS notes that many applicants had not previously served Medicare beneficiaries, highlighting a potential shift in engagement with this population.

• The model addresses chronic conditions such as diabetes, hypertension, high cholesterol, musculoskeletal pain, anxiety, and depression.

• Payments to participants are tied to achieving measurable health outcomes, serving as an alternative to payments for individual technology services.
• Officials indicated that the brisk applicant response suggests that the combination of seemingly modest payment rates and some program restrictions did not deter digital health entities from applying.

• The article emphasizes provisional participation status and notes that the full details are available in continued STAT+ coverage.