CMS Launches $1 Billion "Health Care Innovation Challenge"
CMS has announced a Health Care Innovation Challenge, under which as much as $1 billion in awards will be made to public and private organizations to test creative ways to deliver high-quality health care services and lower costs for individuals enrolled in Medicare, Medicaid, and the Children’s Health Insurance Program. The ACA-funded program will support projects that can begin within 6 months, and it will give priority to projects that rapidly hire, train and deploy new types of health care workers. CMS expects to make awards ranging from $1 million to $30 million over three years to qualified providers, payers, local governments, community-based organizations, public-private partnerships, and multi-payer applicants. Letters of Intent are due by December 19, 2011, applications are due by January 27, 2012, and the expected award date is March 30, 2012.
