Medicare Flips Payment Model: July 2026 Shift to Outcome-Based Reimbursement

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services launches the ACCESS Model on July 1, 2026, replacing fee-for-service billing with outcome-aligned payments for chronic care. Participating Medicare Part B organizations will receive recurring payments tied to patient-specific health targets rather than service volume. The ten-year program targets digital health deployment and represents Medicare's direct application of value-based payment principles at scale—a shift that has been building across commercial insurance and Medicaid for over a decade.