News: CMS offers new AHEAD model aimed at health equity
Applications for the new CMS health equity model will open this spring and summer, according to a recent CMS press release.
The new program, entitled "States Advancing All-Payer Health Equity Approaches and Development” (AHEAD), is aimed at:
- Curbing healthcare cost growth
- Improving population health
- Advancing health equity
According to CMS, AHEAD is scheduled to run between 2024 and 2034 and will offer a maximum of $12 million dollars to participating states. “The Model will focus extensively on advancing health equity in several ways,” CMS said, “including requiring all states participating in AHEAD to develop a statewide and cross-sector model governance structure and statewide health equity plan.”
State plans, according to CMS, will contain “cross-sector and community-drive strategies” for improving population health and minimizing health disparities within geographic areas of concern. CMS listed states, hospitals, and primary care practices as the three types of participants eligible for the AHEAD program.
Application deadlines are determined by cohorts: state participants in cohort 1 have until Monday, March 18, 2024, 3 p.m. eastern, and participants in cohort 2 have until Monday, August 12, 2024, 3 p.m. eastern, to submit applications.
CMS has also encouraged those interested to assess whether participation in AHEAD would conflict with enrollment in any pre-existing federal programs.
Editor’s note: To read the CMS AHEAD press release, click here. To read the CMS fact sheet on overlapping policies, click here.