A new partnership with Mass General Brigham and The New Commonwealth Racial Equity and Social Justice Fund (NCF) will invest $2.5 million to improve maternal health equity, support a diverse maternity practitioner workforce, and boost patient care and clinical outcomes. Particularly, the funding will help Mass General and The NCF build a cohort of Black…
Despite the growth in value-based payment arrangements from payers, health systems continue to pay physicians based on the volume of services they provide. A new study published in the journal JAMA Health Forum finds that volume-based compensation was the most common type of base pay for more than 80% of primary care physicians and for more…
Medicare’s Accountable Care Organization (ACO) Investment Model (AIM) provided up-front funding to forty-one small, rurally located ACOs to encourage their participation in the Medicare Shared Savings Program. We estimate net savings to Medicare of $381.5 million over three years, driven by utilization reductions in inpatient and other institutional care and by the absence of shared…
Accountable care organizations (ACOs) in the Medicare Shared Savings Program will care for more beneficiaries in 2022, making it the largest alternative payment model in Medicare despite lackluster ACO participation numbers this year, according to new program data from CMS. Over 11 million Medicare beneficiaries will be attributed to a provider practicing as part of…
In yet another sign that the huge debate stirred up by Donald M. Berwick, M.D., and Richard Gilfillan, M.D., by their publication on Sep. 30, 2021 of their blog in Health Affairs online, “Medicare Advantage, Direct Contracting, And The Medicare ‘Money Machine,’ Part 2: Building On The ACO Model,” is far from being quieted, yet…
In an effort to provide better healthcare at lower costs, an increasing number of payers are focusing on providing a “continuum of care.” This model strives to identify and deliver the most appropriate care for an individual based on factors such as age, lifestyle decisions, genetic predispositions, prior care received, and more. The ultimate goal…
More Medicare beneficiaries will receive care from providers in Medicare Shared Savings Program accountable care organizations this year, but the number is still lower than it was in 2020, new data show. Nearly 1 in 5 Medicare enrollees will be treated by Shared Savings Program ACO providers this year, a slight increase from 2021 but lower…
Over the past decade healthcare providers have increasingly adopted value-based care (VBC) approaches, a move fueled greatly by the 2010 passage of the Affordable Care Act (ACA), as well as the recognition of the exorbitant costs of medical care, and the racial and socioeconomic inequities in healthcare access. VBC is tied to various alternative payment…
Medicare population-based payment models, broadly known as accountable care organization (ACO) models, of which the Global and Professional Direct Contracting Model (GPDC) is an example, were launched out of recognition of two largely inherent weaknesses of fee-for-service: FFS does not promote efficiency, nor does it promote equity. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS)…
The question of whether ACOs should be forced to accept “downside risk” — in effect pay a penalty if they exceed certain spending benchmarks — has bedeviled CMS’ ACO programs and ACO programs in general. Seema Verma, the Trump administration’s CMS director, pushed for more downside risk, and the administration’s Pathway to Success program shortened…