On November 16th, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) released the Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO) for states interested in participating in the States Advancing AHEAD model, an all-payer total cost of care (TCOC) delivery model that will establish global budgets for hospitals in a state or region. AHEAD consists of three components, all intended to apply on a multi-payer basis (Medicare, Medicaid, and private):
- A regional total cost of care growth commitment between the State and CMS;
- Prospectively set hospital global budgets; and
- Enhanced primary care payments.
Under the NOFO, states interested in the model may apply for cooperative agreement funding of $12 million over approximately six years to help develop infrastructure to implement AHEAD in their state or sub-state region. States who receive funding will then develop a State Agreement outlining their commitments with CMS to implement the model, which must be executed by six months prior to the start of Performance Year (PY) 1. States interested in the first two cohorts must apply by March 18, 2024; states interested in participating in the third cohort must apply by August 12, 2024.
The full NOFO is available here. SPG’s summary of important new information from the NOFO is available here. Our earlier summary providing a general overview of the model is here.