CMS's Innovation Center Evaluates New Care and Payment Models

Abstract

A Health Affairs Web First article released today describes the new rapid-cycle approach to program evaluation at the recently established Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation. The Affordable Care Act created the Innovation Center within the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) to test payments and service delivery models, reduce costs in Medicare and Medicaid, and improve quality. As the Innovation Center moves ahead with innovative payment and service delivery models, the Rapid Cycle Evaluation Group at the center delivers frequent feedback to providers while evaluating the outcomes of each model tested. When a model is considered for testing, staff from the Rapid Cycle Evaluation Group and CMS' Office of the Actuary are immediately assigned to help create the model. The Office of the Actuary provides timely and impartial actuarial, economic, and statistical estimates--and monitors Innovation Center initiatives once testing has begun. This group's rigorous and speedy assessment and evaluation is driven by performance metrics and robust new methodologies. Researchers from the evaluation group have also been organized into "affinity groups" and use CMS data to answer critical policy questions that may shape future payment and service delivery models. The Innovation Center also plans to identify and promote population health metrics--measures of the functional status, healthy behavior, and health outcomes of a population--to promote disease prevention and achieve a more accountable, equitable, and coordinated health care system. All these efforts will contribute to the Innovation Center's success in carrying out its mission of improving the quality of care combined with the slowing spending growth.