CMS will expand its Medicare Advantage Value-Based Insurance Design Model to include 25 states in 2019.
Here are four things to know about the initiative.
1. The five-year model allows Medicare Advantage plans to offer additional benefits or lower cost sharing for enrollees with specific chronic conditions. Launched at the beginning of this year across seven states, the program will add three states in 2018 and another 15 in 2019.
2. In addition to expanding to new states, CMS will allow chronic condition special needs plans to participate in the model. It will also allow participants to propose their own models for enrollees with other chronic conditions, such as lower back pain, chronic kidney disease, obesity/pre-diabetes, asthma and tobacco use.
3. For 2018, CMS accepted Medicare Advantage plans in the following 10 states to apply to the model: Alabama, Arizona, Indiana, Iowa, Massachusetts, Michigan, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Tennessee and Texas. For 2019, CMS will add the following 15 states to the model: California, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Maine, Minnesota, Montana, New Jersey, New Mexico, North Carolina, North Dakota, South Dakota, Virginia and West Virginia.
4. CMS is accepting applications for the 2019 model until Jan. 26, 2018.
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