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The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has announced the ACO Primary Care Flex Model (ACO PC Flex Model), allowing eligible accountable care organizations to treat people with with Medicare using person-centered proactive care.
The model will give a one-time advanced shared savings payment and monthly prospective primary care payments to ACOs. In theory, it will provide needed flexibility and resources to ACOs required to form an ACO and administrative costs necessary to function.
It will be tested within the Medicare Shared Savings Program (MSSP) by the CMS Innovation Center, however, it only applies to low revenue ACOs. CMS said this is because low revenue ACOs typically perform better in MSSP.
“We continue our work to improve the quality of care for people with Medicare by encouraging more primary care providers to participate in the ACO Primary Care Flex Model,” said HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra in a statement. “Incentivizing greater investments in primary care will promote competition among health care providers and enable more people to receive coordinated, high-quality preventive care to keep them healthy – regardless of where they live.”