Innovation At The Centers For Medicare And Medicaid Services: A Vision For The Next 10 Years

In 2010, the Affordable Care Act (ACA) created the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation (Innovation Center). The Innovation Center aims to create a more value-based system that reduces spending while preserving or enhancing quality of care.  As staff who worked on drafting and implementing the ACA and on innovations at the state level, we knew that rising health care costs posed a threat to Medicare’s financial sustainability, state Medicaid budgets, and household spending, and we also knew that our fragmented and siloed health system was not delivering the best care for the money we were spending. We knew that we needed innovative solutions to bend the cost curve and ensure that every American had access to high-quality health care.