In late January 2015, the United States Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) announced their intentions to help drive the U.S. health care
system towards greater value-based purchasing – rather than continuing to reward volume regardless of quality of care delivered.
HHS has set a goal to have 30 percent of Medicare payments in value-based alternative payment models by the end of 2016, and tying 50
percent of payments to the models by the end of 2018. This will be achieved through investment in alternative payment models such as Accountable Care
Organizations (ACOs), advanced primary care medical home models, new models of bundling payments for episodes of care, and integrated care demonstrations
for beneficiaries that are Medicare-Medicaid enrollees. Overall, HHS seeks to have 85 percent of Medicare feefor-service payments in value-based
purchasing by 2016 and 90 percent by 2018.