CMS expands Medicare ACCESS model to include more chronic conditions

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) is expanding its ACCESS (Advancing Chronic Care with Effective, Scalable Solutions) model to include additional chronic conditions starting April 1, 2027. The expansion will add care tracks for heart failure, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), substance use disorder, and tobacco cessation. This voluntary model aims to support technology-enabled care, such as remote monitoring, virtual care, and medication management, to help Original Medicare beneficiaries manage conditions from home.

Concurrently, the Medicare Shared Savings Program has reached a significant scale, with 511 Accountable Care Organizations serving approximately 12.6 million people in 2026. Recent data shows approximately $2.5 billion in net Medicare savings. As these programs grow, health systems are increasingly focusing on coordinated operating models to reduce fragmentation between clinical encounters and improve outcomes through better orchestration of outreach and care navigation.