CMS is expanding a national pilot program (the Value-Based Insurance Design Model, or VBID) that will allow Medicare Advantage (MA) plans for the first time to include hospice (end of life) coverage in plan designs. Since the inception of Medicare Part C, MA plans have “carved out” hospice care, leaving plan enrollees to receive end-of-life care under traditional Medicare Part A. Demonstrating the administration’s willingness to test innovative, value-based models to reduce cost, CMS is moving forward with a pilot that will allow eligible MA plans in all 50 states and territories that apply to the pilot to participate in various VBID programs—a significant expansion of the initial seven state VBID models that tested certain other VBID interventions (adding an additional three states in 2018).

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