September 15, 2026

The Honorable Dr. Mehmet Oz

Administrator

Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services U.S. Department of Health and Human Services

RE: Strengthening Accountable Care in Medicare

Dear Administrator Oz:

The undersigned organizations in the Alliance for Value-Based Patient Care appreciate the Administration's continued commitment to strengthening Medicare’s accountable care programs. We strongly support recent efforts to improve program sustainability, expand participation, and reduce administrative burden for accountable care organizations (ACOs), many of which are directly responsive to previous advocacy by the Alliance and broader ACO community, including:

• Reducing burden of Certified Electronic Health Record Technology (CEHRT) use requirements by shifting to flexible, attestation-based options.

• Expanding quality reporting options to better align requirements with clinical practice. • Establishing guardrails on Accountable Care Prospective Trend (ACPT) to improve benchmark predictability in Medicare’s ACO programs.

• Ensuring that practices in ACOs are not held financially accountable for fraud, waste, and abuse outside of their control during performance year 2025.

• Simplifying beneficiary notification requirements to improve communication with patients and allowing beneficiary cost-sharing reduction options.

View the full letter