Dive Brief:
- One of the major reforms of the Affordable Care Act was the creation of the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation. With a staff of more than 250 and a purse of $10 billion, the organization is funding experiments to improve quality and reduce costs.
- States and providers across the country will be receiving funds for projects like interventions to improve chronic illnesses, reducing unnecessary hospital visits for chronically ill patients, reducing costs for at-home dialysis and helping low-income patients navigate the system.
- This allotment of funding is one of the largest ever invested with the goal of improving healthcare. Much of it is going toward efforts to treat poorly-managed, expensive conditions like cancer and schizophrenia. About $8 billion in funds remains over the next seven years.
Dive Insight:
Grantees have been urged to provide results quickly, but critics contend that very little information has been released regarding how the experiments are working. Thus far, few results have been related to the public. Interim data has been shared with researchers, but their identities have not been disclosed. Critics also question the ability of the center to manage programs and expand those that are successful.
Still, there have been some success stories. One program has managed to save 15,000 lives and $4 billion; another, an accountable care organization, has saved $147 million in its first year.