The Medicare Shared Savings Program collectively saved Medicare $4.1 billion last year and $1.9 billion after accounting for shared savings payments. It is the highest annual savings to date for the accountable care organization model that served 10.6 million seniors in 2020. The accountable care organizations had an average quality score of 97.8% and 60…
On Wednesday, Aug 25, leaders at the Washington, D.C.-based NAACOS—the National Association of ACOs—trumpeted the progress of accountable care organizations in saving money for the Medicare program, one day after joining eleven fellow national healthcare associations in pleading with members of Congress to include legislation supporting alternative payment model acceleration in upcoming federal legislation. On…
Keeping within expenditure limits is a top priority for most ACOs for Medicare. That makes sense. Savings are the main distinguishing feature of an ACO arrangement, as opposed to straight Fee-for-Service reimbursement. ACOs that accept downside risk can’t afford to exceed the expenditure target. It’s in their best interest to create initiatives to cut costs…
Accountable care organizations (ACOs) were understandably disappointed in mid-May when the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) announced that its Next Generation ACO Model would not be extended into 2022. Launched in 2016, the CMS model provides experienced ACOs with a way to assume higher financial risks and rewards offered through the Medicare Shared…
ACOs have zealously protected their favored status under Medicare Value-Based payment models, ensuring enough time for organizations to feel comfortable with financial risk and make investments in infrastructure. But if your own ACO is losing physicians to new equity-financed networks or to hospitals consolidating practices, more time does not help you. Primary care physicians are…
It was recently calculated the United States spends $3.8 trillion – or 18 percent of the national economy – on healthcare. The current healthcare landscape indicates this spending rate will not slow anytime soon due to the COVID-19 pandemic, an ongoing healthcare crisis. Value-based care models like Accountable Care Organizations (ACOs) and Clinically Integrated Networks (CINs) have…
It was recently calculated the United States spends $3.8 trillion — or 18 percent of the national economy — on healthcare. The current healthcare landscape indicates this spending rate will not slow anytime soon due to the COVID-19 pandemic, an ongoing healthcare crisis. Value-based care models like Accountable Care Organizations (ACOs) and Clinically Integrated Networks (CINs) have…
Several years ago in the early days of Accountable Care Organizations (ACOs), we worried and warned about the importance of how each organization should divide up potential savings. In a white paper published in Physician Leadership Journal and on the Salient Web site, co-author Stephen Sheiko and I called it an “Elephant in the ACO…
Although accountable care organizations (ACOs) have never been particularly popular among skilled nursing facilities, timing may be ripe to take on more risk to stay competitive in the market. ACO participation may help operators maintain referrals when so many potential residents are being diverted to home health care, hospice and other tracks along the continuum…
Extensive research and the pandemic have elevated the importance of addressing social determinants of health (SDOH) to improve health and reduce longstanding disparities in health and health care.1 Social determinants of health include factors like socioeconomic status, education, neighborhood and physical environment, employment, and social support networks, as well as access to health care. Prior…