Evaluating the HCIA - Behavioral Health/Substance Abuse Awards: First Annual Report

The Affordable Care Act authorized the Center for Medicare & Medicaid Innovation (CMMI) in the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) to test innovative health care payment and service delivery models with the potential to lower spending on Medicare, Medicaid, and Children’s Health Improvement Program (CHIP) services while maintaining or improving beneficiaries’ health and the quality of care they receive. The 107 awardees in the first round of the Health Care Innovations Award (HCIA) initiative included a broad range of service delivery models. Innovations that succeed in meeting their objectives may lend themselves to implementation on a broad scale. Consequently, rigorous evaluation of the interventions is critical to achieving HCIA goals.