CMS Plans to Fast‑Track New Health Technologies and AI Tools for Medicare Beneficiaries

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) plans to fast‑track Medicare coverage and patient access to emerging health technologies, including artificial intelligence (AI) tools, as part of a broader effort to modernize U.S. healthcare delivery.

CMS has established expedited coverage pathways such as the Regulatory Alignment for Predictable and Immediate Device (RAPID) pathway and the Transitional Coverage for Emerging Technologies (TCET) rule, which cut the gap between FDA approval and Medicare coverage from potentially more than a year to as little as two months and six months, respectively.

CMS is expanding its "Health Tech Ecosystem" initiative, which includes partnerships with over 600 organizations to bring FHIR‑compatible apps, digital check‑in tools, and conversational AI (“AI agents”) to Medicare patients for chronic‑disease management, care navigation, and plan selection by 2026 milestones.

The agency is also piloting AI‑driven prior‑authorization processes and launching AI‑focused competitions and challenges to improve outcome prediction, fraud detection, and patient‑centric care tools, while emphasizing privacy, human oversight, and continuous safety monitoring.