[author: Nick Manetto]

After much delay, the Center for Medicare & Medicaid Innovation (CMMI) today announced a dozen awards under its Health Care Innovation Award (HCIA) Round two competition. The $1 billion funding competition sought proposals focused on reducing Medicare and Medicaid expenditures and proposing new payment models. The 12 projects funded today total about $110 million, with awards ranging from $2 million to $18 million over 3 years. But unlike the first round of awards, HCIA round two prioritized spending reductions and sought programs with strong likelihoods of achieving even greater cost savings over the life of the project.

A second installment of round 2 awards will be announced over the coming months. CMMI followed a similar two-tiered approach in announcing HCIA Round 1 winners in 2012. The 12 awards announced today include projects focused on reducing childhood dental disease, enabling family caregives of persons with dementia to keep their loved one at home for longer periods of time, improving outcomes for patients with late-stage kidney disease and expanding access to palliative care.