VBC Market Dynamics

CMS’s Medicare ACCESS chronic care pilot is drawing scrutiny because major digital health companies appear to be sitting it out, signaling continued uncertainty over whether federal VBC models can offer enough payment predictability, data access, and operational fit for scaled tech-enabled chronic care players. At the same time, market activity is concentrating around MA/VBC infrastructure—RAF/HCC coding optimization, AI-enabled gap capture, and digital care-management platforms—as plans and risk-bearing providers look to protect margins under tighter risk adjustment and quality economics, including moves like AbsoluteCare’s VBC technology strategy and Doximity’s clinical AI tie-in with Aledade. The immediate implication for ACOs, MA plans, and enablement vendors is a sharper divide between CMS-led model participation and commercially driven population-health infrastructure investment, with stakeholders prioritizing tools that can produce near-term coding, quality, and utilization returns over broader but less certain federal pilots. STAT on ACCESS pilot participation [AbsoluteCare VBC digital strategy](https://news.google.com/rss/articles/CBMirAFBVV95cUxQR1JWTHRGeXY0LVVDZEoxekYxVkVEQldQV3NCQXhRbGRnbFRjVThibjJCdjhWY2drZ1lqRW9DWElFVzMz