Maryland Department of Health
Maryland Primary Care Program

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Maryland's AHEAD Primary Care Programs

Note: As expected, the Total Cos​t Of Care Model will end at the end of 2025. In partnership with CMMI, Maryland will transition to the AHEAD Model beginning January 1, 2026. MDPCP will continue under the AHEAD Model. There are no changes to the current MDPCP.

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On November 1, 2024, Governor Wes Moore and Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) Administrator Chiquita Brooks-LaSure​ signed Maryland’s state agreement to participate in the federal States Advancing All-Payer Health Equity Approaches and Development (AHEAD) Model​​. Additional detail on the AHEAD Model can be found on th​e HSCRC website​.​​​​​


​​The first AHEAD Model Primary Care Town Hall was hosted on February 10, 2025. The recording can be found HERE and the slides can be found HERE​​. ​​​​If you have any questions, please direct those to mdh.pcmodel@maryland.gov. ​

Overview of Programs
Through the AHEAD model, Maryland envisions building a sustainable advanced primary care system that provides high-quality whole person care for all Marylanders and supports strong linkages across the healthcare continuum. Leveraging the success of MDPCP established under the Total Cost of Care Model, AHEAD aims to improve health outcomes for all people in Maryland, while simplifying the administrative burden for providers through all-payer alignment.

Maryland's AHEAD Primary Care Programs includes three main pathways: an infrastructure path, a Medicare path, and a Medicaid path. The Infrastructure path is for a small group of select ​practices that are building new or expanding advanced primary care in underserved areas of the state. The Medicare path includes two options, one for current MDPCP practices (Medicare Path 2/MDPCP) and an entry level option for practices that are not currently participating in MDPCP (Medicare Path 1/PC AHEAD). The Medicaid path is new and will preliminarily only be offered to current MDPCP practices. Practices that are not currently participating in MDPCP will be eligible for this path beginning January 2026. 

Pathways
AHEAD Model Pathways

FAQs