As we reported in a news article on Sept. 30, “A dispute has arisen over controversial statements made by two prominent healthcare policy leaders around the Medicare Advantage program. On Sept. 30, Donald Berwick, M.D., and Richard Gilfillan, M.D., published an article in the Health Affairs Blog entitled “Medicare Advantage, Direct Contracting, And The Medicare ‘Money Machine,’ Part 2:…
Accountable care organizations (ACOs) participating in the Medicare Shared Savings Program had a record performance year in 2020. The ACOs saved Medicare $4.1 billion while achieving an average quality score of 97.8 percent. One of the health systems participating in the program—Advocate Aurora Health—led the nation in savings and quality. Advocate Aurora’s affiliated ACOs generated $110 million in…
The Medicare Shared Savings Program (MSSP) is the largest value-based care program from the Center for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) to date. As of 2020, there were 513 ACOs participating in the program, with a total shared savings of $2.28 billion.8 This program seeks to accomplish the following: Promote accountability among healthcare institutions for the…
CMS is looking to modernize the ACO reporting process by mandating the use of electronic clinical quality measures (eCQMs). However, accountable care organizations (ACOs) are concerned that the lack of healthcare interoperability will make electronic ACO reporting near impossible. “CMS must avoid making eCQMs mandatory until standard data fields exist across EHRs, and true interoperability…
On August 26, leaders at the Downers Grove, Illinois- and Milwaukee, Wisconsin-based Advocate Aurora Health posted a press release to the organization’s website announcing breakthrough results on the part of the integrated health system’s three federal accountable care organizations (ACOs.) As the press release stated, “Data released by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) show…
On August 25, 2021, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) released the 2020 performance results for accountable care organizations (ACOs) participating in the Medicare Shared Savings Program (MSSP) – the agency’s cornerstone accountable care initiative. ACOs and value-based care advocates have been anxiously awaiting this latest MSSP data, given the significance of performance…
Accountable care organizations saved Medicare $4.1 billion in 2020 and nearly $2 billion after taking out shared savings, according to new federal data. The data, announced Wednesday by the National Association for Accountable Care Organizations (NAACOS), are an improvement over the $2.6 billion in shared savings they generated in 2019 and $1.9 billion after taking…
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…