Medicare Shared Savings Program

Over Half of At-Risk ACOs May Quit MSSP to Avoid COVID-19 Losses

by Jacqueline LaPointe

More than half (56 percent) of accountable care organizations (ACOs) taking on downside risk through the Medicare Shared Savings Program (MSSP) are considering exiting the program due to concerns that...

CMS Relaxes Quality Reporting for Value-Based Purchasing Models

by Jacqueline LaPointe

Providers participating in some of Medicare’s largest value-based purchasing models will have some flexibility with quality reporting due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, CMS announced last...

ACOs Concerned Coronavirus to Impact Shared Savings, Losses

by Jacqueline LaPointe

Accountable care organizations (ACOs) in the Medicare Shared Savings Program and other shared risk models are worried the novel coronavirus pandemic could leave them responsible for shared losses...

ACOs Need More Info on New Direct Contracting Model

by Jacqueline LaPointe

Applications for the upcoming Direct Contracting Model are due by the end of the day, but the National Association of ACOs (NAACOS) is saying providers do not have enough information on model specifics...

4 Key Strategies for Accountable Care Organization Success

by Emily Sokol, MPH

The passage of the Affordable Care Act sparked many innovative care delivery and payment reform models. One unique model that emerged from this trend was the accountable care organization (ACO). In this model, groups of doctors,...

ACOs Enrolled in MSSP Assume Downside Risk as the Program Matures

by Samantha McGrail

More accountable care organizations (ACOs) participating in the Medicare Shared Savings Program (MSSP) have assumed downside risk as the program progresses, according to a new Avalere analysis. Most...

What the Latest ACO Numbers Mean for the Future of the MSSP

by Jacqueline LaPointe

Last week, CMS Administrator Seema Verma reported that CMS approved the applications for 53 new accountable care organizations (ACOs) to join the Medicare Shared Savings Program (MSSP) starting on Jan....

Number of MSSP ACOs Taking Downside Risk Doubles, CMS Reports

by Jacqueline LaPointe

The number of accountable care organizations (ACOs) in the overhauled Medicare Shared Savings Program (MSSP) assuming downside financial risk doubled from 93 ACOS at the start of 2019 to 192 at the...

Accountable Care Organizations Saved Medicare $3.5B, Netting $755M

by Jacqueline LaPointe

Accountable care organizations (ACOs) in the Medicare Shared Savings Program saved CMS approximately $3.52 billion from 2013 to 2017, according to a new analysis from analytic firm Dobson DaVanzo &...

Industry Leaders Support Proposed Changes to ACO Benchmarking

by Jacqueline LaPointe

Fourteen healthcare industry groups, including the American Hospital Association (AHA) and the American Medical Association (AMA), recently backed the campion to Senate legislation that would alter...

Driven By Decline in Medicare Contracts, ACO Participation Dips

by Jacqueline LaPointe

The introduction of Pathways to Success may behind falling accountable care organization (ACO) participation numbers, according to researchers from Leavitt Partners and the Duke-Margolis Center for...

Physician-Led ACOs Saved More Than Hospital ACOs in 2018

by Jacqueline LaPointe

Physician-led accountable care organizations (ACOs) in the Medicare Shared Savings Program (MSSP) produced nearly seven times the savings per beneficiary than hospital-led ACOs, a new analysis...

Advocate Aurora Invests in People, Infrastructure for ACO Success

by Jacqueline LaPointe

Accountable care organization (ACO) success was no stranger to physicians at Advocate Health Care and Aurora Health Care. Now that the two major health systems are combined, the new...

Medicare Shared Savings Program ACOs Saved $739M in 2018

by Jacqueline LaPointe

Accountable care organization (ACOs) in the Medicare Shared Savings Program saved $739.4 million in 2018 after accounting for shared savings and losses that year, according to program data released by...

ACO Participation Dipped After Pathways to Success, NAACOS Finds

by Jacqueline LaPointe

The latest accountable care organization (ACO) participation numbers for the Medicare Shared Savings Program (MSSP) raise concerns for the National Association of ACOs (NAACOS). In a recent Health...

Verma Presses Hospitals to Assume Risk in Value-Based Care Models

by Jacqueline LaPointe

CMS Administrator Seema Verma urged hospitals on Tuesday to accept new value-based care models and price transparency requirements or face greater administrative burden, less competition, and lower...

ACOs Save More Compared to Medicare Advantage, Report Finds

by Jacqueline LaPointe

The Medicare Shared Savings Program, which governs the majority of Medicare accountable care organizations (ACOs), and Medicare Advantage are gaining in popularity. But the former is saving taxpayers,...

OIG Identifies What Makes Accountable Care Organizations Successful

by Jacqueline LaPointe

Accountable care organizations (ACOs) have reduced Medicare spending and improved care quality, but some organizations are doing it better than others, the HHS Office of the Inspector General (OIG)...

MSSP Sees Drop in New ACO Participation Under Pathways to Success

by Jacqueline LaPointe

CMS selected 206 accountable care organizations (ACOs) to participate in the Medicare Shared Savings Program (MSSP) under Pathways to Success, including 41 entirely new ACOs and 25 re-entering the...

How Downside Risk Will Impact Participation in Pathways to Success

by Jacqueline LaPointe

Providers queued up eagerly to partake in the Medicare Shared Savings Program when the rewards outweighed the risks, but many accountable care organizations exited the program as the balance of risk shifted to their perceived...