Four stakeholder groups in the accountable care space have formed a coalition to help guide developments involving the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation’s recently launched ACCESS Model.

Accountable for Health, America’s Physician Groups, the Health Care Transformation Task Force, and the National Association of Accountable Care Organizations (NAACOS) will share insights and lessons learned in ACCESS (Advancing Chronic Care with Effective, Scalable Solutions), a payment approach in traditional Medicare to expand access to new technology-supported care options to help patients manage chronic conditions. 

In creating the model, CMMI noted that traditional Medicare has historically lacked a payment option to adequately support novel technology-supported care. Fee-for-service methodologies pay for a defined set of activities that do not typically align with the way technology-supported care is delivered.

ACCESS launched on July 1, and new tracks for heart failure, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), substance use disorder, tobacco cessation, and chronic musculoskeletal (MSK) pain start April 1, 2027.

ACCESS is designed to test outcome-aligned payments, a payment option for Medicare-enrolled care organizations. Participating organizations will receive recurring payments for managing patients’ qualifying conditions, with full payment tied to achieving measurable health outcomes. The model focuses on clinical improvement or control of a condition based on each person’s starting point — for example, helping a patient with hypertension lower their blood pressure by 10 mmHg. By rewarding outcomes rather than defined activities (or volume of services delivered), ACCESS is designed to give clinicians greater flexibility to deliver technology-supported care in ways that best improve patient health

The ACCESS Model expands opportunities for Medicare beneficiaries to receive technology-enabled care through ACCESS care organizations working in partnership with physicians and other clinicians. Through the coalition, participating organizations will foster collaboration, exchange best practices, and create opportunities for shared learning among accountable care organizations (ACOs), physician groups, health systems, clinicians, and technology partners.

Insights and lessons learned through the model’s implementation will help inform future innovation efforts, accelerate the adoption of best practices, and further support the delivery of high-quality, patient-centered care for Medicare beneficiaries.

“The ACCESS Model provides a welcome opportunity to understand how to support the health of America’s seniors through technology-enabled care, but it’s not without its challenges,” said Emily Brower, president and CEO of NAACOS. “By accelerating learning across participants, the coalition can help strengthen the model’s impact, build the evidence base for technology-enabled care, and inform how these innovations are applied more broadly to improve care.”