Medicare Finalizes New IOTA Model To Improve Access To Kidney Transplants

The U.S. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) finalized rules for a new mandatory model intended to increase access to kidney transplants. The six-year Increasing Organ Transplant Access (IOTA) Model will involve half of the donation service areas (DSAs) in the country and all eligible kidney transplant hospitals within those DSAs, for a total of 103 kidney transplant hospitals. The other half will be a comparison group for evaluating the model performance. The provisions are aimed at increasing access to transplants, improving health outcomes, and reducing Medicare expenditures. The model supports greater care coordination and consumer focus . . .