Certintell and partners back CMS ACCESS Model for rural care

Certintell, JoinCareTeam and Hancock County Health System are aligning a five-year telehealth collaboration with CMS’s new ACCESS Model, which targets better chronic care delivery and lower costs in safety-net and rural settings. The partners say the program could help expand value-based care tools for underserved patients.

Why it matters: - CMS’s ACCESS Model is designed to push more safety-net and rural providers toward value-based care. - The model focuses on care coordination, early chronic disease intervention and broader use of technology in underserved communities. - The partners say the shift could improve outcomes for rural patients while lowering total cost of care.

What happened: - Certintell, JoinCareTeam and Hancock County Health System publicly welcomed CMS’s ACCESS Model on Sept. 1, 2026. - The announcement builds on a five-year collaboration among Drake University, Certintell, JoinCareTeam and Hancock County Health System under the HRSA Evidence Based Telehealth Network Program. - The partnership has been serving rural communities in Iowa, including patients connected to Hancock County Health System in Britt.

The details: - The grant-backed work deployed remote patient monitoring and proactive care workflows across rural care settings. - Hancock County Health System used JoinCareTeam’s clinical management workflows and Certintell’s network and expertise to expand care beyond the clinic. - The collaboration aimed to reduce emergency department use, improve patient engagement and close gaps in care. - The remote patient monitoring program produced a statistically significant and clinically meaningful drop in blood pressure after one year. - The grant was supported by grant number G01RH42535‐01‐00 from the Office for the Advancement of Telehealth at the Health Resources and Services Administration. - Certintell said the ACCESS Model validates the approach the partners refined over the last five years. - Hancock County Health System said the partnership helps deliver care to rural residents and support chronic disease management.

Between the lines: - CMS’s timing matters because federal policy is moving in the same direction as the partners’ existing workflow and technology model. - The announcement gives the organizations a stronger policy tailwind as they look to scale advanced risk stratification and continuous clinical support. - The rural-health angle is central: the partners are positioning virtual care not as a pilot, but as a practical operating model for underserved populations.

What's next: - The partners plan to deepen their long-standing collaboration under the ACCESS framework. - They expect to expand digital health tools, streamline care team workflows and add continuous support for rural and underserved patients. - Certintell links more information to its website. - JoinCareTeam links more information to its website. - Certintell also shared its LinkedIn page.

The bottom line: - CMS is signaling that rural value-based care is now a bigger federal priority, and Certintell’s five-year telehealth partnership gives the companies a ready-made playbook to act on it.