ACOs: Loss of quality bonus could disrupt value-based care model, physician recruitment

Accountable care organizations are urging Congress to extend a dependable bonus payment to physicians that has been used to improve quality of care, advocates say.

The 5% payment supports participants in alternative payment models who meet quality goals, and is set to expire in 2023. The money goes directly to physicians, incentivizing them to join these organizations, FierceHealthCare reported.

The bonus was created under the Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act, and served as “a knowable, plannable and countable dollar,” for physicians, Emily Brower, Sr. VP-clinical integration and physician services for Trinity Health said at the National Association of ACOs fall meeting, which took place Sept. 7–9.

The quality bonus payment is made no matter how the ACO performs on its quality and savings target.

“We see … those dollars as being able to work in tandem with the funding that comes from the ACO,” Brower said, according to FierceHealthCare.

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