Main Library
Like many accountable care organizations, Austin Regional Clinic (ARC) in Texas is building a record of success on the Medicare Shared Savings Program’s (MSSP) so-called “Track One.” Now looming, however, is an automatic transfer of ARC to the MSSP’s riskier “second track” after years of hard work implementing our value-based, population health treatment model.
On the first track, ARC and other ACOs assume “upside risk,” getting rewarded for taking on overall responsibility for improving quality and appropriate care and controlling costs in the process. On the second track, “downside” risk is added, posing the threat of being penalized if specified measurements are not attained.