A GUIDE Partner Organization is a provider, supplier or other organization that a participant in the CMS Guiding an Improved Dementia Experience (GUIDE) Model contracts with to meet the model's care delivery requirements. This page is for existing GUIDE participants that are adding or overseeing partners, including Residential Care Communities under the rules CMS applies from July 1, 2026. IHS drafts the partner obligation map, referral and escalation workflows and oversight records for the arrangement; the participant's dementia clinicians own the care.
This service sits in the IHS Program Development practice line.
What is a GUIDE Partner Organization?
CMS describes the model this way: “The Guiding an Improved Dementia Experience (GUIDE) Model is a voluntary, nationwide model testing the impact of providing comprehensive services and supports for people with dementia and their caregivers. The model began on July 1, 2024, and will run for 8 years.” (CMS GUIDE Model page)
The governing documents are the CMS Innovation Center GUIDE Model Participation Agreement, the Request for Applications, the Model Overview and the GUIDE FAQs, including the Partner Organization and Residential Care Community rules effective July 1, 2026. The Participation Agreement is not public; the participant holds its own copy.
The FAQs define the partner role: “GUIDE Participants may contract with one or more other providers, suppliers, or organizations, including both Medicare-enrolled and non-Medicare enrolled entities, to meet the care delivery requirements. These providers, suppliers, or organizations will be known as ‘Partner Organizations.’” (GUIDE FAQs)
The participant carries the record-keeping duty: “The GUIDE Participant will be required to maintain a list of Partner Organizations (‘Partner Organization Roster’) and update it as changes are made throughout the course of the GUIDE Model.” (GUIDE FAQs)
Who needs it and what triggers it
The work starts when an existing GUIDE participant engages or oversees a partner organization. Common triggers in the FAQs:
- A new partner joins, so the Partner Organization Roster has to change. The FAQs require the participant to update the roster “as changes are made throughout the course of the GUIDE Model” (GUIDE FAQs).
- A participant wants to serve patients in an assisted living or similar residential setting. “Beginning July 1, 2026, Residential Care Communities (RCCs) are a distinct category of Partner Organization subject to enhanced disclosure, oversight, and patient protection requirements. GUIDE Participants must receive CMS approval to add an RCC to their Partner Organization Roster and must have a fully executed Partner Organization Arrangement with the RCC before providing GUIDE services to patients residing there.” (GUIDE FAQs)
- A partner delivers respite services, which carries a payment rule: “GUIDE Participants are required to pay GUIDE Respite Service Partner Organizations 100% of the total amount paid to the participant.” (GUIDE FAQs)
- Patients live in residential settings, where eligibility changed: “As of July 2026, patients living in a memory care unit are not eligible for GUIDE.” (GUIDE FAQs)
Organizations that are not yet GUIDE participants cannot use this route to join the model. The FAQs state: “No, the GUIDE Model had only one application cycle for health care organizations to participate, which closed in early 2024.” (GUIDE FAQs)
How IHS helps
IHS works from the participant's own model documents and the published FAQs. The process:
- Gap assessment: IHS reviews the partner arrangement against the participant's obligations under the model documents.
- Partner obligation map: Each obligation is mapped to the partner or participant that carries it and to the record that shows it is met.
- Drafting: IHS drafts a partner agreement checklist, referral and escalation workflows, documentation standards and oversight evidence, including the Partner Organization Roster and RCC disclosure records. Care-related procedures are drafted for the participant's dementia clinicians to review and approve.
- Mock oversight review: IHS tests the partner file the way an oversight reviewer would and lists what is missing.
- Readiness support: IHS revises the drafts as the participant's team works through the gaps.
What the participant supplies: the Participation Agreement, the partner's operations, its dementia clinicians and, for residential partners, the residential operators.
The limit: dementia care belongs to the clinicians, and IHS does not make clinical decisions. The participant application cycle is closed, so this service covers partner arrangements only. Any request for CMS approval of an RCC is made by the participant; IHS drafts the supporting records and the participant files them.
What to have ready
Gather these before the introductory call. Each item ties to the GUIDE FAQs as published on cms.gov (pages reviewed October 2026) or to the participant's own Participation Agreement.
- Your copy of the GUIDE Participation Agreement, which is not public and governs your obligations.
- Your current Partner Organization Roster, which the FAQs require you to “maintain” and “update it as changes are made”.
- A list of each partner's services and which care delivery requirement it helps you meet; partners are contracted “to meet the care delivery requirements”.
- The Medicare enrollment status of each partner, since partners may be “both Medicare-enrolled and non-Medicare enrolled entities”.
- For each Residential Care Community, the “fully executed Partner Organization Arrangement”, signed before GUIDE services start there.
- For each Residential Care Community, the record of the CMS approval to add it to your roster.
- Payment records for respite partners, showing they received “100% of the total amount paid to the participant”.
- A way to identify patients living in a memory care unit, who are “not eligible for GUIDE” as of July 2026.
Bring what you have to the introductory call; gaps in this list are where the work starts.
How it compares
Organizations looking at dementia care under a CMS model have a small set of routes, and they differ in who can use them.
| Route | Status on the pages reviewed | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Partner Organization under an existing GUIDE participant | Available through an existing participant, which contracts with partners and keeps the roster. Residential Care Communities need CMS approval and an executed arrangement from July 1, 2026. | GUIDE FAQs |
| Becoming a GUIDE participant directly | Closed; “only one application cycle”, which closed in early 2024. | GUIDE FAQs |
| CMS ACCESS Model for technology-supported chronic care | A separate model with its own named tracks; dementia is not among the tracks named on the model page. | CMS ACCESS Model page |
Which route fits depends on the organization's relationship with a GUIDE participant and the services it delivers.
What it costs
CMS does not publish a fee schedule for Partner Organizations on the pages we reviewed. Two payment facts bear on the arrangement: “CMS does not directly pay Partner Organizations for services provided under the GUIDE Model,” and respite partners must receive 100% of the amount paid to the participant (GUIDE FAQs). The model page lists “respite services up to $2,500 annually” as a model payment, not a fee (CMS GUIDE Model page).
IHS scopes each engagement after a free introductory call.
What this is not
- It is not legal advice. Partner agreements should be reviewed by the participant's counsel.
- It is not clinical direction. Dementia care decisions and care-related procedures belong to the participant's clinicians, who approve what IHS drafts.
- IHS does not submit to, correspond with or seek approval from CMS. The participant files its own requests and records.
Frequently asked questions
What is a GUIDE Partner Organization?
A Partner Organization is a provider, supplier or other organization that a GUIDE participant contracts with to meet the model's care delivery requirements. The CMS GUIDE FAQs define the term and require the participant to keep a Partner Organization Roster.
Can a non-Medicare-enrolled organization be a GUIDE partner?
Yes. The GUIDE FAQs say participants may contract with both Medicare-enrolled and non-Medicare enrolled entities to meet the care delivery requirements.
How are GUIDE Partner Organizations paid?
CMS does not pay Partner Organizations directly for services under the GUIDE Model, according to the GUIDE FAQs. The FAQs set one rule for partner payments: respite partners receive 100% of the total amount paid to the participant.
What is the respite payment pass-through rule?
The GUIDE FAQs require participants to pay GUIDE Respite Service Partner Organizations 100% of the total amount paid to the participant. The CMS model page lists respite services up to $2,500 annually as a model payment.
What changed for Residential Care Communities in GUIDE on July 1, 2026?
From July 1, 2026, Residential Care Communities are a distinct category of Partner Organization subject to enhanced disclosure, oversight and patient protection requirements. The participant needs CMS approval to add an RCC to its roster and a fully executed Partner Organization Arrangement before providing GUIDE services to patients living there.
Does a GUIDE participant need CMS approval to add an assisted living partner?
For a partner that is a Residential Care Community, yes: the GUIDE FAQs require CMS approval before the RCC is added to the Partner Organization Roster. The participant makes that request; IHS can draft the supporting records.
What must a Partner Organization Arrangement with an RCC contain?
The GUIDE FAQs say the arrangement must be fully executed before GUIDE services start, and that RCCs are subject to enhanced disclosure, oversight and patient protection requirements. The pages we reviewed do not itemize those requirements, so the participant's Participation Agreement and CMS guidance to the participant govern the contents.
Are memory care unit residents eligible for GUIDE?
No. The GUIDE FAQs state that as of July 2026, patients living in a memory care unit are not eligible for GUIDE.
Can a new organization still apply to be a GUIDE participant?
No. The GUIDE FAQs state the model had only one application cycle for health care organizations, which closed in early 2024. Partner arrangements with an existing participant remain the route in.
What oversight records should a GUIDE participant keep on its partners?
The FAQs name the Partner Organization Roster, kept current as changes are made, and for RCCs the CMS approval and the fully executed arrangement. IHS drafts documentation standards and oversight evidence around those records, mapped to the participant's own agreement.