There’s a new program from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) that could provide tangible benefits, financial and otherwise, to senior living facilities. The best part: it rewards operators for delivering services they’re already committed to performing.

CMS recently announced the Advancing Chronic Care with Effective, Scalable Solutions (ACCESS) Model, a 10-year national voluntary program that allows participating organizations to receive recurring outcome-aligned payments (OAPs) for helping manage qualifying chronic conditions, with additional payments for reaching specified outcome measures across the enrolled population. CMS began accepting applications on Jan. 1, 2026, and the first group of ACCESS Model participants is slated to begin July 5, 2026.

The program is designed to promote innovation in connected clinical devices and remote patient monitoring. Participants will be expected to deploy digital tools, such as remote monitoring devices, mobile health applications and telehealth platforms, to track and manage chronic conditions between visits.

There’s been plenty of discussion about ACCESS at industry conferences I’ve attended recently. But there’s also a misconception about the program. Because ACCESS’S goal is to increase technology-enabled care for Medicare Fee-For-Service beneficiaries with chronic conditions, there’s a sense that the benefits are only open to Medicare Part B providers.

In fact, senior living operators that partner with Medicare Part B providers to deliver services to their residents can earn incremental revenue on outcome-based care. Senior living operators are well-positioned to participate in ACCESS because the model’s goals closely align with what they do every day. All told, there is limited downside financial risk under the model structure. Operators will receive incremental revenue if they meet outcome-based care benchmarks.

The initial phase will include four clinical tracks targeting common chronic conditions:

• 

  Hypertension and dyslipidemia (high cholesterol)

• 

  Diabetes/chronic kidney disease/atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease

• 

  Chronic musculoskeletal pain

• 

  Depression and anxiety

CMS will evaluate the model’s impact on health outcomes, patient choice, and total Medicare spending to assess whether to expand the model or make it permanent beyond the 10-year pilot. But ACCESS has the potential to transform healthcare in the U.S., and it appears to signal a long-term shift in CMS’ priorities. That’s one reason why it’s a good idea to take advantage of this program as soon as possible.

Because in the long run, you risk losing opportunities. It’s not just the financial rewards; you could squander the chance to gain a competitive advantage. All senior living operators promote themselves as providing better health outcomes for their residents, but participation in ACCESS is a way to demonstrate it through verifiable measurement. If the program proves to be successful, those measurements could become the standard by which investors and prospective residents evaluate your facility. While that’s further down the road, senior living operators can still use their patient outcome data as a point of differentiation in the short term.

For senior living operators, the main question to ask is: who should you partner with? Operators will need to make sure the physicians they’re working with meet the requirements for the program, that they have the technology in place, that they have the staff and expertise to serve your residents. That will require time and energy. Operators that don’t know where to begin should lean on their trusted advisers who have the expertise and the networks to help you find the right partner.

ACCESS can be a win-win for senior living operators. For those who can find the right physician partners, they can earn incremental revenue for delivering the outcome-based care that they already provide, they can stand out from their competitors, and they can position themselves to be at the forefront of what could be the gold standard for measuring patient outcomes.