In 2017, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) launched the Million Hearts Cardiovascular Disease Risk Reduction Model. Designed by the CMS Innovation Center to test if health care costs could be lowered by prevention, the program called on participants to reduce the incidence of first-time heart attacks and strokes among Medicare beneficiaries. A little more than a third (36 percent) of the original participants – primary care and specialty practices, health centers, and hospitals – were rural providers. While this report only evaluates the first four years of a five-year program, results show improved preventive care for cardiovascular disease. The annual report can be found here.
