Healthcare Leadership Council President and CEO Maria Ghazal released the following statement after the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation Center (CMMI) unveiled the new Long-Term Enhanced ACO Design (LEAD) model:
“When providers are incentivized to keep people healthy – not just to deliver more services – patients benefit. That is why HLC is supportive of CMMI’s new LEAD Model.
“We have long believed that ensuring a pathway for providers to have ‘skin in the game’ to improve outcomes, control costs, and align repayment with multi-year investments in preventative care is important. This 10-year model, which will provide a vital level of predictability to participants, is a significant step in that direction. We are also encouraged by CMMI’s aim to focus on more accurate risk adjustment and benchmarking.
“The ultimate goal is to enable more time with clinicians and care teams, better chronic disease management, fewer avoidable hospitalizations, and more preventive services, all while reducing costs and protecting taxpayers by focusing on quality and outcomes. Our hope is that LEAD pushes the system towards these critical goals.
“HLC is appreciative of efforts by CMMI leadership that advance practical, patient centered innovation. We look forward to working with policymakers to secure lasting solutions that strengthen value-based care and deliver better health for every patient.”
