Yesterday, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation (CMMI) announced its second round of Health Care Innovation Awards.

The Health Care Innovation Awards Round Two are designed to test new models that seek to transform the delivery of health care and improve health outcomes. Projects must focus on one of four areas – including:

• Rapidly reducing Medicare and/or Medicaid costs in outpatient and/or post-acute settings;
• Improving care for populations with special needs;
• Testing approaches for specific types of providers to transform their financial and clinical models; and
• Improving the health of defined populations (either geographically, by specific condition, or socioeconomic class) through engagement, prevention, wellness, and comprehensive care.

Yesterday’s awardees include 12 organizations representing 13 states. For example, the Association of American Medical Colleges received $7.1 million to test the scalability of an eConsult/eReferral model in five academic medical centers in California, Iowa, New Hampshire, Virginia, and Wisconsin to address gaps in primary care-specialty care coordination. Four Seasons Compassion for Life received $9.6 million to test a new model for community-based palliative care in North Carolina to improve care transitions across settings.

CMMI plans to announce an additional group of awardees for the second round of Innovation Awards in the coming months. A Round Three opportunity is also anticipated in the coming months.