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The new value-based care model ACO REACH has been touted as the first ever to hold providers accountable for tackling health equity.
But some providers say the Biden administration isn’t offering enough financial incentives for them to fully reach patients in extremely underserved communities.
This year is the first performance period for the ACO REACH model, which lets providers take on more financial risk for meeting a quality and spending benchmark. Each of the 132 participants must create and implement a health equity plan that identifies disparities in care among its patient population. The benchmark targets will be adjusted based on how well the provider mitigates these disparities.
“We want to be in these underserved communities because we believe everyone should get access to primary care in this country and they are not getting it,” said Gary Jacobs, executive director of the Center for Government Relations and Public Policy for VillageMD, a primary care company. Jacobs spoke about the payment model during a recent webinar sponsored by Bright Spots in Healthcare.