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For all the challenges facing the leaders of patient care organizations in moving forward in their value-based contracting in a time in healthcare strongly affected by the COVID-19 pandemic and policy and payment changes, some integrated health systems are doing well and showing excellent results, including in the Medicare Shared Savings Program (MSSP) sponsored by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS).
One of those health systems that has been doing well in the MSSP is Advocate Aurora Health, the 27-hospital integrated health system dually headquartered in Downers Grove, Illinois, and Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and whose service area encompasses all of the eastern third of the state of Wisconsin and the entire northeast quadrant of Illinois. Immediately after CMS announced MSSP results on September 6, Advocate Aurora leaders issued a press releasenoting their results.
The release began, “The latest data from the Centers for Medicaid and Medicare Services show that Advocate Aurora Health’s three accountable care organizations have saved taxpayers $79.6 million through the Medicare Shared Savings Program in 2021, meeting benchmarks for quality care while lowering costs. The ACOs have saved taxpayers a total of $494 million since entering MSSP in 2012, with the latest results once again putting Advocate Aurora among the top-performing integrated health systems in the country. The latest results come amid the challenges of the ongoing pandemic, when providers have had to work harder to help patients keep up with ongoing care.”