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The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) is poised to invest roughly $100 million in a novel approach to healthcare, shifting focus from treating illness to proactively preventing it. This initiative, known as MAHA ELEVATE (Make America Healthy Again: Enhancing Lifestyle and evaluating Value-based Approaches Through Evidence), aims to fund up to 30 projects over three years that prioritize wellness for traditional medicare beneficiaries.
A Shift Towards Proactive Health
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The program represents a significant departure from the traditional “sick care” model, emphasizing lifestyle interventions like nutrition and physical activity.
- MAHA ELEVATE will fund projects focused on “whole-person care,” including functional and lifestyle medicine.
- The program prioritizes preventative measures, addressing root causes of health issues before they escalate.
- Funding will support interventions in areas like nutrition, physical activity, sleep, and stress management.
- A notice of funding Opportunity will be released in early 2026, with agreements awarded in 2026 and 2027.
“For decades, health policy has focused too much on flashy, expensive surgeries and too little on the unglamorous work of prevention,” said Abe Sutton, director of the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation, in a statement. “MAHA ELEVATE is a first-of-its-kind initiative to test evidence-based approaches that treat the root causes of health problems before they turn into emergencies.These programs will support innovative care that works alongside conventional medicine to prevent disease and improve quality of life without any added cost to people.”
Addressing a Long-Standing Gap
Experts agree that the program addresses a critical need within the healthcare system. Ann Greiner, president and CEO of the Primary Care Collaborative, expressed excitement about the “more holistic approach” and the potential to demonstrate the value of preventative care.”The success hinges on the evidence it generates. “If CMS can show that things like working with a nutritional coach, participating in tai chi classes for balance and blood pressure control, or structured lifestyle programs actually improve outcomes and lower total cost, that changes the conversation about what Medicare should pay for. The real value is that it moves prevention from philosophy to data to payment,” he said.
Challenges and Opportunities
While the program is lauded as a step in the right direction, some experts caution about implementation challenges. Sean Mehra, co-founder and CEO of virtual primary care company HealthTap, argued that simply providing “fuel” – funding for wellness initiatives – won’t be enough if it’s poured into a “broken engine” of traditional, episodic care. “CMS is finally providing the ‘fuel’ – funding for nutrition, stress management, and wearables – but if we pour this high-octane fuel into the existing ‘broken engine’ of episodic, brick-and-mortar care, it won’t work,” he said.
Mehra emphasized the need for high-frequency, low-friction virtual primary care to build trust and facilitate lasting behavioral changes. Dr. Geoffrey Rutledge, co-founder and chief medical officer of HealthTap, echoed this sentiment, stating that lifestyle medicine should be integrated into the core of primary care, not treated as a separate “program.” “if these interventions are treated as separate ‘programs’ rather than tools in a doctor’s bag, they will fail,” said Rutledge.
Greiner of the Primary Care Collaborative highlighted the chronic underfunding of primary care research, noting that less than 1% of
