Medicare Shared Savings Program

Provider Groups Want to Make Next Generation ACOs Permanent

by Jacqueline LaPointe

Leading provider groups are asking HHS to make the Next Generation accountable care organization (ACO) model a permanent part of Medicare’s largest ACO program: the Medicare Shared Savings...

CMS Announces Application Cycle for MSSP Pathways to Success

by Jacqueline LaPointe

Starting June 11, providers can submit notices of intent to apply to participate in the overhaul of the Medicare Shared Savings Program (MSSP), dubbed Pathways to Success, CMS recently announced on its...

Quality Measure Change May Impact Medicare ACO Performance

by Jacqueline LaPointe

Medicare accountable care organizations (ACOs) performance may suffer after CMS unexpectedly modified a quality measure during the 2018 Medicare Shared Savings Program (MSSP) performance period, the...

More Groups Want to Extend Medicare Shared Savings Program Deadline

by Jacqueline LaPointe

Eleven healthcare industry groups are supporting the National Association of ACOs’ (NAACOS) call for CMS to extend the Feb. 19 application deadline for the Medicare Shared Savings Program...

67% of MSSP ACOs May Be High-Revenue Under Pathways to Success

by Jacqueline LaPointe

Over two-thirds of Medicare Shared Savings Program (MSSP) accountable care organizations (ACOs) would qualify as high-revenue organizations under the new Pathways to Success initiative, a recent...

CMS Announces Feb 19 Deadline for Pathways to Success Applications

by Jacqueline LaPointe

Accountable care organizations (ACOs) can start their Pathways to Success applications to participate in the initiative replacing the Medicare Shared Savings Program (MSSP) in the summer of 2019. The...

ACO Financial Risk Rules for Pathways to Success Raise Concerns

by Jacqueline LaPointe

Leading healthcare industry groups are concerned that the overhaul of the Medicare Shared Savings Program (MSSP) will impede the transition to value-based care. On December 21, 2018, CMS finalized...

CMS Overhauls MSSP by Finalizing Pathways to Success for ACOs

by Jacqueline LaPointe

CMS recently finalized an overhaul of the Medicare Shared Savings Program (MSSP), which will require accountable care organizations (ACOs) to assume downside financial risk sooner. The MSSP is the...

MSSP Accountable Care Organizations Saved Medicare Nearly $2.7B

by Jacqueline LaPointe

Accountable care organizations (ACOs) in the Medicare Shared Savings Program (MSSP) saved more than previously thought, according to a new analysis. The updated analysis of MSSP ACO savings from the...

36% of ACOs Consider Quitting MSSP Under New Proposed Rules

by Jacqueline LaPointe

Over one-third of accountable care organizations (36 percent) said they are unlikely to continue with the Medicare Shared Savings Program (MSSP) if the proposed overhaul is finalized, a recent survey...

Time Helps Accountable Care Organizations Realize Savings in MSSP

by Jacqueline LaPointe

Experience is a key factor to realizing greater cost savings in the Medicare Shared Savings Program (MSSP), a new Avalere analysis found. Accountable care organizations (ACOs) in the MSSP for four or...

Policymakers Concerned with ACO Shared Savings Under Updated MSSP

by Jacqueline LaPointe

The House Committee on Ways and Means recently voiced concerns that proposed changes to the shared savings arrangements under the Medicare Shared Savings Program (MSSP) overhaul would harm accountable...

MSSP ACOs Saved $1.84B, Nearly Double CMS Estimate, Study Finds

by Jacqueline LaPointe

CMS estimates that accountable care organizations (ACOs) in the Medicare Shared Savings Program (MSSP) saved $954 million from 2013 to 2015. However, a new Dobson DaVanzo & Associates analysis,...

More MSSP ACOs Saved Money, Earned Shared Savings in 2017

by Jacqueline LaPointe

Accountable care organizations (ACOs) in the Medicare Shared Savings Program (MSSP) generated about $314 million in net Medicare savings in 2017, according to new MSSP performance data from CMS. In...

CMS to Offer More Flexibility to Risk-Bearing ACOs, Verma Says

by Jacqueline LaPointe

Federal regulations and rules are commonly cited as barriers to implementing value-based reimbursement models. The rules can prevent care coordination and appropriate transitions of care, which...

Leading Accountable Care Organization Group Opposes MSSP Overhaul

by Jacqueline LaPointe

The proposal to overhaul the Medicare Shared Savings Program (MSSP) would significantly harm the accountable care organization (ACO) movement, the National Association of ACOs (NAACOS) recently...

CMS Plans to Transform MSSP to Encourage ACOs to Assume More Risk

by Jacqueline LaPointe

CMS recently proposed an overhaul of Medicare’s largest accountable care organization (ACO) program, transforming it from the Medicare Shared Savings Program (MSSP) to the Pathways to Success...

Medicare Spending Greater on Patients in Downside Risk MSSP ACOs

by Jacqueline LaPointe

Moving accountable care organizations (ACOs) to Medicare Shared Savings Program (MSSP) tracks with downside financial risk may not help the accountable care initiative generate savings, according to a...

House Reps Want to Extend MSSP Track 1 ACO Participation

by Jacqueline LaPointe

Seven House Representatives are calling on CMS to allow successful accountable care organizations (ACOs) in the Medicare Shared Savings Program’s (MSSP) Track 1 to continue in the upside-only...

71% of MSSP ACOs Likely to Quit Rather Than Assume Downside Risk

by Jacqueline LaPointe

The Medicare Shared Savings Program (MSSP) is requiring the 82 accountable care organizations (ACOs) that started in upside-only financial risk tracks in 2012 or 2013 to take on downside financial risk...