Evaluating Medicare programs against saving taxpayer dollars

Medicare Advantage (MA) brings private-sector innovation to Medicare, and it offers valuable lessons for the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) to apply to other models of care in traditional Medicare. Predictable capitated payments allow MA plans to make investments in care delivery and to offer creative, non-traditional services. The stars rating program, which offers positive financial rewards for quality improvement, is a stronger financial incentive than the negative quality adjustments that characterize some of CMS’s other value programs.