Dive Brief: Accountable care organizations want more help from the Trump administration to gain a more solid financial footing amid the novel coronavirus pandemic. ACOs, whose payments are tied to spending and patient health benchmarks, are asking CMS to give them the option of protection from any financial losses for a reduced shared savings rate…
CMS on Thursday finalized a wide range of temporary Medicare and Medicaid changes in response to the COVID-10 pandemic, including some big wins for accountable care organizations. State-approved Medicare providers can now order COVID-19 serology tests, and Medicare will pay providers to collect specimens for COVID-19 testing under the physician fee schedule and outpatient prospective payment system….
The Washington, D.C.-based National Association of Accountable Care Organizations (NAACOS) on April 13 released the results of a survey of member ACOs that holds dire implications for the Medicare Shared Savings Program (MSSP) for ACOs; at the same time, the association called on the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) to hold harmless all providers participating in…
During these difficult times for ACOs and the healthcare industry, NAACOS wanted to offer an update on how we’re fighting for relief on behalf our membership in Washington, D.C. Earlier today, NAACOS sent letters co-signed by nine other leading organizations to both CMS and House and Senate leaders on Capitol Hill, asking for support and policy changes to address expected spending…
Members of the nation’s largest association for accountable care organizations have asked CMS to make some suggested changes to the new direct contracting payment models and release additional details. Not doing so could “derail” the new payment reform, according to the National Association of Accountable Care Organizations (NAACOS). CMS released first details about the direct contracting…
The National Association of Accountable Care Organizations (NAACOS) today launched a new taskforce to help doctors and hospitals understand and prepare for new value-based payment models. The nonprofit organization, which represents hundreds of organizations participating in new payment and delivery models, announced the formation of its direct contracting task force that will offer tools to providers to…
Proposed changes to the federal accountable care organization (ACO) model—namely, a cut in the shared savings rate from 50% to 25%—would cut the knees out from under the program, board members of the National Association of ACOs said on Thursday. Speaking with reporters at their annual conference in Washington, D.C., ACO leaders said they supported…
Something really quite extraordinary happened this week: NAACOS, the Washington, D.C.-based National Association of Accountable Care Organizations, published, in the august journal Health Affairs, a study based on research that NAACOS leaders had commissioned from Dobson DaVanzo & Associates, a healthcare economics consulting firm. And, as Healthcare Informatics Managing Editor Rajiv Leventhal noted in his…
A huge chunk of organizations plan to leave the Medicare Shared Savings Program if they’re forced to take on financial risk, which could slow the government’s transition to value-based care. And it remains unclear whether the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), which oversees the program, will make any sought-after changes. A recent letter from the agency, obtained by…
Most accountable care organizations say they will disband if the CMS forces them to take on financial risk next year. ACOs that started in the Medicare Shared Savings Program (MSSP) Track 1 in either 2012 and 2013 are supposed to move to a risk-based model by their third contract periods which begin next year, according…