Major digital health firms stay out of Medicare's chronic care ACCESS pilot

The latest STAT Health Tech newsletter reports that the biggest players in digital health are not participating in Medicare's ACCESS pilot, a program designed to test chronic-care solutions for Medicare beneficiaries.

The pilot, launched by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, seeks to evaluate how remote monitoring, mobile apps and other digital tools can improve outcomes and reduce costs for patients with long-term conditions.

While smaller innovators are joining the experiment, large firms have opted out, citing uncertainty around reimbursement models and regulatory pathways.

The newsletter also notes that Isomorphic, a digital-health startup, recently secured a sizable funding round, highlighting continued investor interest despite the hesitation of larger companies.

Analysts suggest that the lack of participation by major vendors could limit the pilot's ability to generate scalable insights, and may signal broader challenges in aligning Medicare policy with the digital health market.