CMS to replace some health equity measures with those addressing wellness

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services is  from measures to combat health inequity in favor of nutrition and well-being initiatives. The agency has indicated it wants to eliminate several incentives and requirements for hospitals and physicians to address health disparities, including requiring hospitals to collect data on where patients live and their income. The agency also nixed a measure for doctors to implement a plan to root out 鈥渆xplicit and implicit biases in patient care.鈥 However, the Health Equity Index for privately run Medicare Advantage plans is still in place but is now called 鈥淗ealthy Outcomes for All.鈥 CMS recently  a public request for information on how to build provider quality measures to address nutrition and well-being. (Politico , 4/22/25)