Today, Health Affairs Forefront published a blog by Dora Hughes, MD, MPH, Chief Medical Officer at the CMS Innovation Center, outlining the center’s health equity strategy, progress made over the last year, and additional areas of focus in the future.
In October 2021, the CMS Innovation Center released its new 2030 vision: “A health system that achieves equitable outcomes through high quality, affordable, and person-centered care.” To achieve this vision, the CMS Innovation Center outlined five strategic objectives, one of which is to “Advance Health Equity.” CMS defines health equity as “the attainment of the highest level of health for all people, where everyone has a fair and just opportunity to attain their optimal health regardless of race, ethnicity, disability, sexual orientation, gender identity, socioeconomic status, geography, preferred language, or other factors that affect access to care and health outcomes.”
To meet this objective, the CMS Innovation Center launched a new health equity initiative in 2022, proposing to:
Develop new models and revise existing models to promote and incentivize equitable care
Increase participation of safety net providers
Increase collection and analysis of equity data
Monitor and evaluate models for health equity impact
The CMS Innovation Center has made meaningful progress in each of these areas, which we believe will help mitigate health inequities within CMS’ beneficiary populations.
Read the blog at Health Affairs Forefront: