CMS launches $100 million MAHA ELEVATE NOFO to test lifestyle-medicine programs for Original Medicare

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services on March 13, 2026 released a Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO) for the MAHA ELEVATE Model, a $100 million cooperative-agreement program to test whole-person functional and lifestyle-medicine (FLM) interventions for Original Medicare beneficiaries.

CMS said the program will distribute up to 30 awards across two cohorts, with individual awards up to $3.3 million over a three-year performance period. "The expected total funding amount for MAHA ELEVATE is $100 million," Rhandi Morgan, a MAHA ELEVATE Model Co-Lead at the CMS Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation, said during a webinar accompanying the NOFO.

The model will fund interventions that add services not currently covered by Original Medicare; each application must include either a nutrition or physical-activity component. "In total, we're offering up to 30 cooperative agreements," Sonja Madera, a Model Co-Lead, said, and CMS reserved three of the 30 awards specifically for programs focused on dementia and cognitive decline.

CMS described a milestone-based payment structure: awards will be distributed in set disbursements tied to demonstrated progress, not as single lump sums, and recipients can receive up to nine disbursements over the performance period. Recipients must submit quarterly beneficiary rosters that CMS will use to validate participation and payment decisions; only verified Medicare fee-for-service beneficiaries who complete the program will count toward enrollment targets.

Enrollment targets will be calculated per award based on the clinical measure(s) chosen and the expected effect size rather than a uniform minimum across all recipients. Presenters walked through an example showing how body-mass-index effect size affects required sample sizes for treatment and comparison groups.

The NOFO lists ineligible costs and administrative requirements. Presenters said cooperative-agreement funds cannot be used for food or services already covered by Original Medicare, and that applicants must show organizational capacity, a strong study design, and the ability to collect and share required data with CMS. Community-based organizations that are not HIPAA-covered entities must collect signed data-disclosure authorizations from each patient and submit them to CMS before enrollment verification.

Monica Anderson, of CMS's Office of Acquisition and Grants Management, reviewed application prerequisites and forms: applicants must have an EIN/TIN and a Unique Entity Identifier (UEI), a login.gov account to register in SAM, an Authorized Organizational Representative (AOR) to sign the SF-424, and must submit the full application through grants.gov. Required attachments include the Project Summary, Project Narrative (max 15 pages), Budget Narrative (max 10 pages), Business Assessment of Applicant Organization (max 12 pages), and standard federal forms such as SF-424, SF-424A, and SF-LLL.

Key dates provided in the webinar: Letters of Intent for Cohort 1 are due April 10, 2026; full applications are due by 11:59 PM Eastern on May 15, 2026; award selections for Cohort 1 are expected in October 2026; Cohort 1 would begin around October 2026 and run for three performance years, and Cohort 2 is expected to start in Fall 2027 with separate deadlines.

CMS advised applicants not to expect case-by-case eligibility determinations before award decisions and said the MAHA ELEVATE team will not engage in individual conversations about eligibility during the application period. Additional resources, the NOFO, and a MAHA ELEVATE webpage and listserv are available; CMS provided a mailbox for questions (mahaelevate@cms.hhs.gov).

The webinar closed with a reminder to submit LOIs via the LOI portal (emails used to submit LOIs should be re-submitted through the portal for tracking) and with a request that attendees complete a short post-event survey.