CMS accepts 150+ companies for AI-driven healthcare model
Trump admin announced over 150 companies accepted to participate in first cohort for CMS' ACCESS model, which will reward AI and tech-driven care with increased Medicare reimbursement.
Objective Facts
The Trump administration announced Monday (April 13) over 150 companies have been accepted to participate in the first cohort for CMS' ACCESS model, which will reward artificial intelligence and tech-driven care with increased Medicare reimbursement if they can improve health outcomes. Under the Advancing Chronic Care with Effective, Scalable Solutions Model, first announced in December, participants will receive set reimbursement for managing Medicare beneficiaries' chronic conditions, like diabetes, chronic kidney disease, hypertension, anxiety and depression. The Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation's ACCESS Model will run for 10 years starting in early July, allowing participating organizations to earn recurring monthly payments for using digital health technologies to manage certain chronic conditions. However, full payment under the model is based on health outcomes. For example, participating digital health companies and providers would need to help a patient with hypertension lower their blood pressure by a set level to earn full reimbursement, according to the CMS. CMS officials say the large number of applications to participate in ACCESS exceeded their expectations and that the enthusiasm suggests modest payment rates and restrictions did not discourage digital health companies from applying.
Left-Leaning Perspective
Available sources do not contain substantial left-leaning editorial or commentary coverage on this specific CMS ACCESS model announcement. Healthcare professional organizations including the American Medical Association (AMA) have expressed support for the model's direction. AMA CEO John Whyte, MD, MPH said 'ACCESS is an important step toward bringing new, effective digital health tools into everyday care for Medicare patients' and noted 'For too long, outdated payment barriers have made it difficult for physicians to use new tools that can improve care for common chronic conditions. This new model has the potential to give clinicians more flexibility, strengthen care teams.' However, the available sources focus on technical, implementation-focused analysis rather than partisan political positioning. Healthcare stakeholders including telehealth advocates have raised implementation concerns, but these are directed at operational and financial design elements rather than the underlying policy philosophy.
Right-Leaning Perspective
Available sources do not contain substantial right-leaning editorial or commentary coverage on this specific CMS ACCESS model announcement. The Trump administration announced and promoted the model as part of its tech-centric policy approach that will reward artificial intelligence and tech-driven care with increased Medicare reimbursement if they can improve health outcomes. However, named conservative commentators, Republican legislators, or right-leaning outlets have not published explicit policy responses to this specific announcement in available sources. Industry concerns about the model come from stakeholder groups like the American Telemedicine Association rather than partisan political actors.
Deep Dive
The CMS ACCESS model represents an evolution in Medicare payment reform that has been in development since the Obama administration first established the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation (CMMI) in 2010. A recent Congressional Budget Office analysis concluded that CMMI increased federal spending by more than five billion dollars over its first decade rather than producing the projected savings, with the ACCESS Model announced on December 4, 2025, as a new approach to this challenge. The model tests whether paying for outcomes rather than activities and letting technology-enabled organizations figure out how to deliver the care can succeed where previous CMS innovation models have achieved mixed results. The core tension in ACCESS is between its ambitious redesign of payment incentives and practical questions about whether organizations can sustain the model's financial structure. CMS outlines a co-management payment of approximately 30 dollars, while current fee-for-service models generate approximately $2,455 per patient annually, while the ACCESS Model caps payments at $180–$420, with 50% of revenue withheld based on clinical performance. Notably, most of the participants had not previously served Medicare patients, suggesting the model may primarily attract startups and digital health companies rather than traditional provider organizations. The question of whether this represents innovation or a shift toward AI-dominated care at the expense of relationship-based medicine remains unresolved in available literature, though concerns exist that in a highly automated ACCESS environment, continuous remote monitoring and AI text nudges replace the physical reassurance of an office visit, and patients may lose the psychological comfort of sitting across from a doctor who has known their family for decades, since algorithms cannot read body language or hold a patient's hand after a difficult diagnosis. What to watch: The success or failure of the first cohort (launching July 2026) will determine whether CMS expands the model or develops successor programs. If the model demonstrates that fixed, outcome-based payments can improve care for Medicare beneficiaries while reducing overall costs, it could influence future CMS rulemaking and create additional pathways for digital health participation in Medicare, and organizations that establish a track record under this model may be well-positioned to benefit from that evolution. Importantly, several major payers including Blue Shield of California, CVS Health, Humana, UnitedHealthcare and Cigna have voluntarily pledged to adopt an outcomes-based payment structure aligned to the ACCESS model, suggesting that regardless of Medicare's experience, the private sector is moving in this direction.