Wearables go federal: Oura and Counsel Health enter CMS' chronic care program

Smart ring maker Oura and AI-native primary care company Counsel Health are joining CMS' Advancing Chronic Care with Effective Scalable Solutions (ACCESS) Model — a 10-year federal payment program designed to reimburse digital health companies based on patient outcomes rather than services delivered. Starting in early 2027, eligible Medicare beneficiaries with conditions like hypertension, obesity, hyperlipidemia, and prediabetes will receive no-cost chronic care management powered by Oura's continuous biometric data and Counsel's AI-driven physician support.

The partnership builds on an existing integration that embeds clinical care directly into the Oura app. Early results are encouraging: in the first nine weeks, 36,000 Oura members onboarded to Counsel's services, with 70% reporting satisfaction and 60% saying they'd be disappointed if the service disappeared.

By the Numbers

• 90%+ of adults 65+ live with at least one chronic condition
• 5 million paid Oura members, wearing the device ~23 hours/day
• 36,000 members onboarded to Counsel Health in the first 9 weeks
• 15% of Oura Labs testers who received a symptom alert connected to care — representing 10,000+ members
• 4.6/5 care experience rating from members who saw a physician

Why it matters: This collaboration is an early real-world test of whether consumer wearables and AI can shift chronic disease management from reactive, episodic clinic visits to continuous, proactive care — at Medicare scale.