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When it launched in 2016, Long-Term Care ACO was the first ACO to focus on the population of Medicare beneficiaries who reside in long-term care nursing facilities, but now several other ACOs have entered that space. At the National Association of ACOs (NAACOS) fall meeting, Kristen Krzyzewski, chief strategy and program development officer for LTC ACO, highlighted some of the challenges and successes in navigating the Medicare Shared Savings Program with a long-term care focus.
Krzyzewski noted that after LTC ACO entered the MSSP, it was the only ACO focused on this population for six years. “Since proving that there is significant opportunity, there are now six ACOs that have long-term care populations as greater than 60% of their total assigned lives, and it continues to expand. In 2024 these six ACOs generated over $300 million in savings,” she said. “There is a lot of opportunity, and we’re happy to be a part of it.”
LTC ACO has been in the enhanced track of MSSP for a second agreement period, and has entered into a third agreement period starting this year. “We also expanded in 2025 to include the assisted living facility population. That was something new for us,” she said. “A lot of our providers in this space were serving both populations, so it was important to expand. With that expansion we are one of the ACOs that have generated some of the highest savings on a per-beneficiary basis.”