The Health Care Transformation Task Force (Task Force) applauds today’s release of the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation (CMMI or Center) white paper titled “Driving Health System Transformation – A Strategy for the CMS Innovation Center’s Second Decade.” Task Force members support the focus on health equity and affordability and welcome the increased attention on beneficiary impact and engagement. The Center also properly recognizes providers’ and payers’ desire for greater value-based payment model consistency across all populations they serve, which is likely to lead to a more predictable and sustainable value-based ecosystem.

As the Center considers how to advance its health equity and affordability priorities through alternate payment models, it is equally important to keep the model portfolio moving forward to sustain provider commitment and investment. Now more than ever it is important for CMMI to be clear and transparent about its plans to accelerate value transformation after carefully reflecting on lessons learned from its first decade. The Task Force looks forward to partnering with CMMI as it develops further guidance on how the current portfolio can be streamlined and harmonized in a manner that advances the Center’s new strategic objectives.