CMS ACCESS is launching in July 2026 and many organizations still don’t know how to develop programs that succeed with outcomes-based payment models. This session brings together two practitioners who have figured it out: Sam Hiatt of Community Care of North Carolina (CCNC)—whose statewide medical home model has documented reductions in admissions and readmissions and supports over 1,300 independent practices—and Lisa Bari of Innovaccer—a technology partner with a track record of AI-enabled, outcomes-focused chronic care.

Together they'll deliver a practical, evidence-based framework for ACCESS program design—what works, what doesn't, and what community-level implementation requires that health-system-centric approaches overlook.

You will be able to:

• Describe the structure and outcome-aligned payment mechanics of the CMS ACCESS model and articulate its implications for program design, care team configuration and financial sustainability for organizations at varying stages of VBC readiness.
• Apply operational lessons from CCNC’s two-decade medical home and care coordination model—including what reduced hospital admissions and readmissions, improved chronic care outcomes and sustained community-level engagement.
• Evaluate the role of technology in enabling—not replacing—longitudinal chronic care at scale, including the specific data infrastructure and patient engagement capabilities that outcomes-based programs have demonstrated are necessary rather than nice-to-have.