The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) recently announced that Accountable Care Organizations (ACOs) saved Medicare $739.4 million in 2018, up from $314 million in savings the year before. Those savings were achieved despite policies that Rooke-Ley and colleagues argue in a recent Health Affairs Blog post disadvantage ACOs relative to Medicare Advantage (MA) plans. Their analysis concludes that ACOs cut costs…
Accountable care organizations have not done enough to reduce Medicare program spending, a new analysis from the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission indicates. The networks of coordinated caregivers share risks, and any cost savings they incur. They do not appear to “have had any significant effect on referral patterns after hospitalization,” observed MedPAC senior analyst Evan…
How do we – as an industry – improve health care? It’s an ongoing question and discussion that seems, at times, endless. Discussion points range from access to care, to cost of care, to making health care more culturally relevant so that it meets people’s needs. Meanwhile, the healthcare industry continues to focus on itemizing…
CMS announced that Accountable Care Organizations (ACOs) participating in the Medicare Shared Savings Program generated net savings of $739.4 million last year, and data suggests that physician-led ACOs continued to perform better than hospital-led ACOs. The savings came from 548 ACOs, which served around 10.1 million Medicare beneficiaries last year. Of these, 66 percent generated…
Most ASCs aren’t involved in ACO or joint venture care models and don’t plan to be, according to OR Manager‘s 2019 Salary/Career Survey. OR Manager collected data from 196 ASC leaders from March 28 to May 31. Respondents were either OR Manager subscribers or part of an external list. Three findings: 1. The following care models haven’t been adopted…
One worry about accountable care organizations (ACOs) is that their growth would lead to the consolidation of physician practices. A new study finds that concern has proven real. Researchers examined changes in physician practice sizes associated with ACO market penetration three years after the launch of the Medicare Shared Savings Program, which began in 2012 and…
Support for telehealth is breaking political barriers in the nation’s Capitol. In a bipartisan, bicameral initiative, legislation to expand telehealth services through Medicare was introduced yesterday, led by U.S. Sen. Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii), with a companion bill presented to the House of Representatives. Creating Opportunities Now for Necessary and Effective Care Technologies (CONNECT) for Health…
Download Slides During this presentation we discuss these important steps to expanding behavioral Health Solutions in your ACO: Provide PCP access to mental health care team and psychiatry services Focus on screenings such as PQH-9, GAD-7, trauma and substance abuse Evidence-based process to reduce symptoms in 50% less time than traditional approach Deliver population-level…
Download Slides During this presentation is discussed how to better manage the more difficult individuals, and get the right people on the bus. How to identify providers that don’t fall in line Reconfiguring your network to manage partners that adversely affect ACO performance Strategies to manage difficult or un-cooperative patients Visit the HealthEC Exhibit…
In late September 2019, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) released the performance results for the sixth year (2018) of Medicare’s flagship Accountable Care Organization (ACO) program, the Medicare Shared Savings Program (MSSP). Over the last several years and from a variety of different angles, we have tracked the progress of this program, which has generally shown good quality of care and outcomes, and modest but increasing…