Medicare and Medicaid broadly cover preventive services, yet utilization remains below goals, with the widest gaps in rural communities and among beneficiaries managing multiple chronic conditions. Excessive emergency department use and readmissions persist when care coordination and self-management support fall short. These patterns underscore an opportunity for federal agencies to align existing authorities so that prevention becomes the default experience—not the exception. 

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) already holds the essential levers to improve prevention through benefit design, payment, quality management programs, managed-care contracting, and demonstration authority. Applied together across the care continuum, these tools can transform today’s patchwork into an integrated prevention pathway. They can expand access and outreach, reward vigilance in screening and chronic disease management, strengthen accountability through transparent metrics, and embed targeted social supports where evidence shows impact.
 
Explore this report for recommendations and actions—grounded in existing authority—that CMS can take to improve and sustain health through prevention.