If CMS aims to lower healthcare costs and improve quality, then the agency should use more population-based alternative payment models, like accountable care organizations (ACOs), according to a new analysis. The analysis of the evaluations for more than a dozen CMS value-based initiatives over the past eight years showed that no other alternative payment model came…
With the change of administrations that will be coming in January, the leaders of the Washington, D.C.-based National Association of ACOs (NAACOS), which represents hundreds of accountable care organizations nationwide, on Thursday, Nov. 12, published an outline of what they consider to be successful ACO models, and NAACOS’s president and CEO has published an analysis…
The Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation has announced that 51 provider and accountable care organizations are participating in direct contracting, the new risk model that has evolved from Next Generation. The implementation period, which began in October and runs through March 31, 2021, provides time for the direct contracting entities to prepare for the first performance…
NAACOS reported that Medicare’s largest alternative payment model by far had another record year of savings while continuing to provide high-quality care, as shown by data on 2019 performance released by CMS. The Medicare Shared Savings Program, the accountable care organization (ACO) model that served 11.2 million seniors in 2019, collectively saved Medicare $2.6 billion last…
A new survey confirms a growing concern among accountable care organizations (ACOs) – most ACOs are unlikely to meet rising participation thresholds for MACRA’s Advanced Alternative Payment Models (APMs) in 2021. The survey from the National Association of ACOs (NAACOS) recently found that more than 90 percent of ACOs participating in an Advanced APM, including the Medicare Shared…
As if things weren’t dramatic enough already in U.S. healthcare, a “battle of the narratives” has developed between senior officials at the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), especially CMS Administrator Seema Verma, and the leaders of NAACOS— the National Association of ACOs—which have been locked in an ongoing war of words with each…
Many providers are concerned about rising thresholds in Medicare ACOs, which could lead them to reconsider participation in value-based models, according to a new survey. The National Association of Accountable Care Organizations (NAACOs) surveyed 116 ACOs across a number of programs, and found that 90% were concerned they would be unable to reach qualifying thresholds in…
An excerpt from the NAACOS Newsletter for Members and Partners: MSSP ACOs should have received their performance results for 2019 from CMS. These results are embargoed until further notice from CMS, but ACOs may share results internally and with participants. Because of the two performance periods for many ACOs in 2019, “PY 2019” may refer to…
The nationwide association dedicated to promoting the interests of the accountable care organizations (ACOs) operating across the U.S. healthcare system has sponsored research that validates the association’s contention that legislation recently introduced into Congress around ACOs and other alternative payment models (APMs), will save the Medicare program hundreds of millions of dollars a year. The…
CMS is proposing to change quality reporting standards in the Medicare Shared Savings Program and accountable care organizations are pushing back. In the 2021 proposed physician fee schedule rule released Aug. 3, CMS proposed three main changes related to quality: a new mechanism for ACOs to report quality measures, a reduction in the Medicare Shared Savings Program’s…