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It was another record year for the Medicare Shared Savings Program. The 476 accountable care organizations, or ACOs, participating in the program in 2024 saved over $6.5 billion, delivering care to 10.3 million Medicare beneficiaries. What’s more, the ACOs made significant improvements in key patient outcomes, particularly around prevention and chronic disease management.
The 2024 financial and quality results from the Shared Savings Program show continued, year-over-year savings to Medicare, explained Aisha Pittman, MPH, senior vice president of Government Affairs at the National Association of ACOs.
“We’ve seen seven or eight years of consecutive higher savings,” she said. “That just proves that the program is working, that the ACO model does reduce costs and returns savings back to the government. That’s one of the big highlights from this year’s results.”
Pittman broke down how ACOs in the Shared Savings Program have built on success and how CMS can improve the program to save even more.
Setting records, again
For the 2024 performance year, ACOs in the Shared Savings Program achieved the highest rates of shared savings since the program launched in 2012, according to data from CMS.
Three-quarters of ACOs participating in 2024 earned performance payments, totaling $4.1 billion. The ACOs also saved Medicare $2.4 billion relative to benchmarks, while serving 80% of the 10.3 million assigned beneficiaries.
Meanwhile, just 16 ACOs owed shared losses to CMS, totaling $20.3 million.
The ACO class of 2024 had the highest share of ACOs receiving performance payments and the highest amount of savings for ACOs and Medicare since the inception of the Shared Savings Program, CMS reported.
Beyond savings, though, ACOs also saw improved quality performance. CMS highlighted better performance in controlled blood pressure, hemoglobin A1c control and depression screening with a follow-up plan, compared to 2023.