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MAHA ELEVATE Brings Lifestyle Medicine to Original MedicareWhat’s new: CMS announced the Make America Healthy Again: Enhancing Lifestyle and Evaluating Value-based Approaches Through Evidence (MAHA ELEVATE) Model, a voluntary model to fund up to 30 chronic disease prevention and health promotion pilot projects that utilize evidence-based functional or lifestyle medicine interventions currently not covered by Original Medicare. Why it matters: These types of interventions, including those focused on nutrition and physical activity, may slow or prevent chronic disease; MAHA ELEVATE will gather and evaluate necessary data on cost and quality to inform decisions about the feasibility of including such lifestyle-based interventions in Original Medicare in the future. What to expect: CMS will release a Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO) in early 2026 for the first cohort. The model will begin on September 1, 2026. The second cohort will begin 1 year later. The big picture: By building evidence for interventions that empower people with Original Medicare to improve their health upstream of costly treatments or procedures, MAHA ELEVATE will help transform the U.S. health care system to one that proactively addresses the root causes of chronic disease rather than reactively addressing symptoms. Additional details: CMS will test evidence-based functional or lifestyle medicine interventions currently not covered by Medicare through cooperative agreements with organizations that have already demonstrated success integrating these approaches into conventional medical care with scientifically documented improvements in health. Participating organizations will receive approximately $3 million each over 3 years of funding to collect quality and cost data on their interventions. Interventions tested in the model are intended to support, not replace, the medical care received by people with Medicare. They may combine psychological, nutritional, and physical interventions along with self-care strategies to promote wellness and prevent illness. Find out more: |
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