Accountable Care Organizations

New ACOs Push CMS Closer to Accountable Care Goals

by Jacqueline LaPointe

CMS has announced that more than 700,000 healthcare providers and organizations are participating in one of three accountable care organization (ACO) models, including the Medicare Shared Savings...

Should Population-Based Payments Account for Social Risk Factors?

by Jacqueline LaPointe

Efforts to make the healthcare system more efficient and equitable by adjusting population-based payments for social risk factors may be missing the mark, suggests a new study from Harvard and Yale....

Bipartisan Bill Calls for Extended Value-Based Payment Incentives

by Victoria Bailey

US Senators John Barrasso (R-WY) and Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) have introduced a bipartisan bill that would extend value-based payment incentives for healthcare providers participating in...

Lawmakers Ask CMS to Inspect ACO REACH Model to Prevent Fraud, Abuse

by Victoria Bailey

A group of lawmakers, spearheaded by US Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and Representative Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.), has asked CMS to examine the ACO REACH model to prevent organizations with a...

Value-Based Payment Models May Help Curb High Healthcare Spending

by Victoria Bailey

As healthcare spending escalates in the US, stakeholders have started looking at value-based payment models to address rising costs, but many payments are still tied to fee-for-service models,...

APG Direct Contracting Entities Helped Save Medicare $70M in 2021

by Victoria Bailey

The Global and Professional Direct Contracting Model generated $70 million in net savings for the Medicare program in 2021, with several member organizations of America’s Physician Groups (APG)...

Key Plans for Advancing Accountable Care, Value-Based Payment

by Jacqueline LaPointe

Accountable care is getting a makeover. For over a decade, the healthcare system has been making the shift to accountable care, or “the coordinated provision of patient services by healthcare providers and facilities with the goals...

NAACOS Calls on CMS to Adjust Digital Quality Measurement Requirements

by Victoria Bailey

Before implementing program-wide requirements for digital quality measurement in the Medicare Shared Savings Program (MSSP), CMS should establish a pilot that tests the technical feasibility and the...

MSSP Exit More Common Among ACOs Serving Racial, Ethnic Minorities

by Victoria Bailey

Accountable care organizations (ACOs) that serve a high proportion of racial and ethnic minorities were more likely to exit the Medicare Shared Savings Program (MSSP) compared to ACOs serving mostly...

NAACOS, AMA Ask Congress to Extend Advanced APM Incentive Payments

by Victoria Bailey

More than 800 accountable care organizations (ACOs) and healthcare associations, including the National Association of ACOs (NAACOs) and American Medical Association (AMA), have asked Congress to...

ACOs Improve Quality, Physician Burnout As New Opportunities Emerge

by Victoria Bailey

Accountable care organizations (ACOs) aim to improve healthcare quality for patients while reducing costs. Even as healthcare providers have operated in an unstable industry for the past few years, ACO programs have continued to achieve...

Healthcare Orgs Request Medicare Shared Savings Program Updates in PFS

by Victoria Bailey

Healthcare groups, including the American Medical Association (AMA), have asked CMS to consider additional updates to the Medicare Shared Savings Program (MSSP) before finalizing the Medicare Physician...

Shared Savings Program ACOs Cut Costs Again, With 58% Earning Payouts

by Jacqueline LaPointe

Over half of Shared Savings Program ACOs earned payments for their quality and cost performance in 2021, according to new data from CMS. The federal agency reports that ACOs in the Medicare Shared...

ACO Participation Cuts Medicare Spending on Serious Mental Illness

by Jacqueline LaPointe

Mental healthcare is costly for both Medicare and its beneficiaries, but ACO participation may help reduce the expenses for those facing serious mental illness, according to a new study published in...

Specialty-Oriented ACO Improved Outcomes, Spending for ESRD Patients

by Victoria Bailey

The Comprehensive End-Stage Renal Disease (ESRD) Care (CEC) Model reduced Medicare payments and hospitalizations among beneficiaries with ESRD, suggesting that specialty-oriented accountable care...

Challenges, Trends Among ACO Home-Based Care Initiatives

by Victoria Bailey

Home-based care initiatives were common among accountable care organizations (ACOs), but ACO leaders cited the lack of return on investment as a barrier to expanding these services, according to a...

Organizations Urge CMS, HHS to Terminate New ACO REACH Model

by Victoria Bailey

More than 200 healthcare organizations, including Physicians for a National Health Program (PNHP) and the American Medical Student Association, have urged CMS and HHS to terminate the ACO REACH model,...

NAACOS Launches Coalition for ACO REACH Model Participants

by Victoria Bailey

The National Association of ACOs (NAACOS) has launched a coalition to help providers learn about and prepare for the new ACO Realizing Equity, Access, and Community Health (REACH) model. The coalition...

What Is Value-Based Care, What It Means for Providers?

by Editorial Staff

Value-based care is a form of reimbursement that ties payments for care delivery to the quality of care provided and rewards providers for both efficiency and effectiveness. This form of reimbursement has emerged as an alternative and...

CMS Replaces Direct Contracting Model with New ACO REACH Model

by Victoria Bailey

CMS has overhauled the Global and Professional Direct Contracting model and announced the ACO Realizing Equity, Access, and Community Health (REACH) model. The redesigned accountable care organization...