The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) released its eighth annual report on the evaluation of the Independence at Home Demonstration (IAH) on February 23. The IAH demonstration is Congressionally mandated and tests whether a payment incentive for providing home-based primary care for people with Medicare with multiple chronic conditions reduces health care spending for Medicare by forestalling the need for care in institutional settings.

In Year Eight, the second year of the COVID-19 pandemic, ambulatory care and support provided by the seven participating practices did not significantly reduce total spending or hospital utilization for people with Medicare. Home-based primary care provided by IAH practices has several features that differ from typical office-based care and may have been especially valuable to people with Medicare during the pandemic.