Specialty care has long been one of the harder pieces of accountable care to operationalize. In this episode, Coral’s Joy Chen speaks with Theresa Dreyer, CEO of the Health Care Transformation Task Force, about what CMS’s Long-term Enhanced ACO Design, or LEAD, Model could mean for ACOs and specialty groups. They discuss why specialty engagement has been challenging across payer lines, how LEAD creates more formal pathways for ACO-specialist arrangements, what different types of specialty groups may need to consider, and what it will take for these models to move from payment design to practical changes in care delivery.

In this episode of Bright Spots, Coral’s Kate Freeman speaks with Beth Blaise, MPA, Director of State Programs at Truentity Health, about how Truentity’s ANCHOR model is working to expand access to care in rural and underserved communities. The conversation explores how community pharmacies, connected health infrastructure, and coordinated care models can help address persistent gaps in chronic disease management and care access across rural areas. Beth shares how the model operates in practice, the challenges of implementing innovative rural health approaches within today’s health care system, and what models like ANCHOR could mean for the future of rural care delivery, workforce sustainability, and community-based health care access.

As accountable care models continue to evolve, organizations are increasingly being asked to engage specialists in more meaningful and coordinated ways. In this episode, Coral Health Advisor’s Joy Chen sits down with Aisha Pittman, Senior Vice President of Government Affairs at NAACOS; Dr. Erin Hurlburt, Chief Medical Officer of Population Health Services at Lumeris; and Dr. Gene Quinn, Chief Executive Officer of Envoy Integrated Health, to discuss the growing role of specialty care in value-based care and accountable care models. The conversation explores challenges and opportunities related to incentives, care accountability, data sharing, network design, and specialist alignment, along with insights from NAACOS’ new Specialty Engagement in Accountable Care Toolkit.

In this episode of The Pop Health Podcast, Brian Lobley, CEO of tango, sits down with Coral Founder Meg Koepke to discuss how post-acute care is evolving and why the home is becoming the preferred setting for recovery after hospitalization. Brian shares how tango is aligning payers and home health providers through value-based approaches that prioritize faster access to care, better outcomes, and lower total cost of care. Together, they explore the implications for Medicare Advantage and emerging policy models, the operational realities of managing post-acute episodes, and what the future of home-based recovery could look like as health systems continue shifting care beyond traditional facility walls.

In this episode of the Pop Health Podcast, Coral's Maria Alexander and Joy Chen welcome Meredith Yinger, Model Lead for the Innovation Center’s LEAD (Long-term Enhanced ACO Design) Model and Emily Bezold, Senior Advisor to the Center’s ACO portfolio. Together, they explore more about the mission and vision for LEAD, how the model came to fruition, the Center’s rationale for key design features, and what potential applicants may want to know before they apply.

In this episode of the Pop Health Podcast, Coral's Trevor Abeyta is joined by Araceli Santistevan, Payment Reform Unit Supervisor at the Colorado Department of Health Care Policy and Financing, and Andy Wilson, Managing Director for Analytics at Third Horizon Strategies. Together they discuss Colorado Medicaid’s APM 2 primary care capitation model, exploring what has worked, key challenges such as rate setting and post-COVID utilization changes, and lessons for states pursuing value-based payment.

In this episode, Melissa Cohen, Founder of Coral Health Advisors, is joined by Maria Alexander, EVP & Partner, and Joy Chen, Director, to unpack CMMI’s newest accountable care model — LEAD (Long-term Enhanced ACO Design). Together, they explore how LEAD builds on MSSP and ACO REACH, what’s actually new (and what’s familiar), and how ACOs should start thinking about readiness, risk, and strategy ahead of a potential 2027 launch.

As 2025 comes to a close, CMS signals are becoming clearer across rural health, specialty care, chronic care, prevention, and accountable care. In this end-of-year episode, Coral Founder Meg Koepke is joined by Maria Alexander, Kate Freeman, and Trevor Abeyta to unpack what the latest federal models reveal about where policy and accountability are heading in 2026 and beyond. They discuss what RHTP signals about rural transformation, how ASM expands mandatory accountability into specialty care, what ACCESS shows about the future of digital chronic care, how LEAD reflects a shift toward longer-term accountable care, and why MAHA ELEVATE represents a new bet on prevention. Together, they reflect on what this mix of mandatory and voluntary models and fast experimentation with long horizons means for organizations preparing for the next phase of health care transformation.