According to a study report released by the Department of
Health and Human Services' Office of Inspector General (OIG) in
late August, accountable care organizations (ACOs) in the Medicare
Shared Savings Program (MSSP) demonstrated significant cost savings
while scoring higher in quality metrics than the applicable
benchmarks. The OIG also released a summary of the report.
The OIG evaluated data from the 9.7 million beneficiaries served by
the 428 ACOs participating in the MSSP from 2013-2016. The OIG
found that "During that time, most of these ACOs reduced
Medicare spending compared to their benchmarks, achieving a net
spending reduction of nearly $1 billion. At the same time, ACOs
generally improved the quality of care they provided, based on
[Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services] data on quality
measures. In the first 3 years, ACOs improved their performance on
most (82 percent) of the individual quality measures. ACOs also
outperformed fee-for-service providers on most (81 percent) of the
quality measures."
Additionally, the report found that there is a subset of
high-performing MSSP ACOs and highlighted a number of features that
set these organizations apart, including providing the highest
number of primary care visits compared to other ACOs, only
including physicians in the ACOs, and serving a larger number of
beneficiaries. The report concludes by noting that "While
policy changes may be warranted, ACOs showed promise in reducing
spending and improving quality," and that additional
information about high-performing ACOs would inform the future
direction of alternative payment models, including the MSSP.
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