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There are now more than 335 Accountable Care Organizations (ACOs) participating in the Medicare Shared Savings Program (MSSP) in 47 states, DC, and Puerto Rico. Early results show that most Medicare ACOs are succeeding at meeting their quality benchmarks, but only about a quarter of MSSP participants have been able to reduce their spending enough below projected financial targets to qualify for shared savings. While these results are encouraging, especially given the financial and practice transformation necessary to succeed as an ACO, they also suggest that more work is needed from both CMS and the providers to ensure continued sustainability of the MSSP ACOs.
Given that the first three year cycle of MSSP ends in 2015 and more providers will likely be entering the MSSP in the coming years , the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) has indicated that they intend to release a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) that will establish the rule for participation in the Medicare ACO program. In anticipation of these coming changes, the Engelberg Center for Health Care Reform released an issue brief that identifies the “Top Eight ACO Challenges” to encourage further discussion and considerations for ensuring the continued success of ACOs. These potential policy alternatives build on discussions with ACO Learning Network members and other related stakeholders implementing accountable care across the country and include the following issues.