Integrating Medical and Nonmedical Services — The Promise and Pitfalls of the CHRONIC Care Act

NEJM June 7, 2018
Amber Willink, Ph.D., and Eva H. DuGoff, Ph.D.

Audio Interview

Interview with Dr. Amber Willink on a new law that increases the flexibility of benefit offerings in Medicare Advantage plans.(11:32)Download

Efforts to provide more integrated care for Medicare beneficiaries to better address health and well-being needs that are not strictly medical have received a major boost with the enactment of the Creating High-Quality Results and Outcomes Necessary to Improve Chronic (CHRONIC) Care Act as part of the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2018.

The CHRONIC Care Act, crafted by the Senate Finance Committee’s Chronic Care Working Group, has several important aspects, but two provisions speak specifically to the integration of medical and nonmedical services. The law gives Medicare Advantage plans two opportunities to increase the flexibility of their benefit...