Accountable Care Organizations

Former Obama Appointees Urge HHS, CMS to Continue Direct Contracting

by Victoria Bailey

A group of former appointees under the Obama administration are urging federal officials to preserve the Global and Professional Direct Contracting model, stating that the model helps accountable care...

NAACOS, APG Urge HHS to Adjust Direct Contracting Model, Not Cancel

by Victoria Bailey

More than 200 healthcare organizations, including America’s Physician Groups (APG) and the National Association of ACOs (NAACOS), have urged the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to...

Provider Collaboration Needed to Drive Patient Experience, ACO Success

by Sarai Rodriguez

In order to ensure accountable care organization (ACO) and patient experience success, providers must collaborate across the continuum of care, suggested a recent study out of the Ohio State...

NAACOS, AMA Urge Congress to Boost Value-Based Care, APM Incentives

by Victoria Bailey

A group of eight healthcare organizations, including the American Medical Association (AMA) and National Association of ACOs (NAACOS), have asked Congress to increase their efforts in promoting...

More Beneficiaries, But Fewer ACOs for Medicare Shared Savings Program

by Jacqueline LaPointe

Accountable care organizations (ACOs) in the Medicare Shared Savings Program will care for more beneficiaries in 2022, making it the largest alternative payment model in Medicare despite lackluster ACO...

Next Generation ACO Model Has Saved Medicare $667M, So Far

by Jacqueline LaPointe

The Next Generation Accountable Care Organization (ACO) Model has saved Medicare millions of dollars over the past four performance years. But with one more year to go due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the...

Allow ACOs to Use Pre-Pandemic Years for 2022 Benchmarks, Groups Urge

by Victoria Bailey

A group of healthcare organizations, led by the National Association of ACOs (NAACOS), has asked CMS to provide accountable care organizations (ACOs) with the option to use pre-pandemic years to set...

What It Takes for Medicare ACOs to Earn Shared Savings

by Jacqueline LaPointe

The majority of accountable care organizations (ACOs) participating in the Medicare Shared Savings Program earned shared savings last year despite dealing with a global pandemic that altered healthcare...

Lessons Learned from Aetna, Cleveland Clinic’s Joint ACO Model

by Jacqueline LaPointe

In August 2020, Aetna and Cleveland Clinic announced an innovative product for employers in Northeast Ohio. The two leading healthcare organizations partnered to form an accountable care organization...

Lack of Healthcare Interoperability Hinders Electronic ACO Reporting

by Jacqueline LaPointe

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...

10 ACOs with the Highest Shared Savings Payments in 2020

by Hayden Schmidt

The Medicare Shared Savings Program (MSSP) saved over $4 billion in 2020. Between the $1.9 billion in Medicare savings and $2.3 billion in accountable care organization (ACO) savings, this represents...

Medicare ACO Savings Increased to $4.1B in 2020

by Jacqueline LaPointe

Medicare ACO savings hit a record high, with accountable care organizations collectively saving Medicare $4.1 billion in 2020, according to a new report. The total savings, along with the $1.9 billion...

AMGA to CMS: Rethink ACO Financial Risk Advancement in MSSP

by Victoria Bailey

The American Medical Group Association (AMGA) recommended several steps regarding accountable care organization (ACO) financial risk advancement in the Medicare Shared Savings Program (MSSP) in a...

Number of Accountable Care Organizations Declined During COVID-19

by Jacqueline LaPointe

Accountable care organization (ACO) growth has hit a snag again, with the COVID-19 pandemic impacting the number of ACOs in public and private contracts, according to a new analysis. The analysis...

NIH Awards Grant to Study Effects of ACOs on Child Asthma Care

by Jill McKeon

The National Institutes of Health (NIH) awarded a $3 million grant to Sarah Goff, MD, PhD, a health services researcher at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, to study the effects of accountable...

“Soft” Consolidation in Medicare ACOs Can Lead to Higher Prices

by Jacqueline LaPointe

Some independent primary care practices joining health system-led Medicare accountable care organizations (ACOs) raised their prices after what researchers called “soft consolidation,”...

Community Health Workers Help to Drop Hospital Readmission Rates

by Jill McKeon

The Community Care Transitions (C-CAT) clinical trial, recently published in JAMA Network Open, matched Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) patients insured by accountable care organizations with...

Spike in Radiologist Accountable Care Organization Participation

by Jill McKeon

Radiologist involvement in Medicare Shared Savings Program (MSSP) accountable care organizations (ACOs) has increased significantly in recent years, showing promise for increased specialist...

No Extension for Next Generation ACO Model After This Year

by Jacqueline LaPointe

The Next Generation Accountable Care Organization (ACO) Model will come to an end at the end of this year as planned despite several calls for an extension, according to an email to model...

Medical Groups Ask for More Time Before ACO Quality Reporting Changes

by Jacqueline LaPointe

According to nearly a dozen leading medical groups, changes to accountable care organization (ACO) quality reporting are rushed, unclear, and potentially harmful to patient care. In a letter to HHS...