Oct 17
2014
CMS Makes Substantial Investment in Rural ACOs
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) announces the availability of a new initiative for Accountable Care Organizations (ACOs) participating in the Medicare Shared Savings Program. The new ACO Investment Model is designed to bring these efforts to to rural and underserved areas by providing up to $114 million in upfront investments to up to 75 ACOs across the country.
The ACO Investment Model will give Medicare Accountable Care Organizations more flexibility in setting quality and financial goals, while giving them greater accountability for delivering quality care efficiently, said CMS administrator Marilyn Tavenner.
“We are working with these organizations to make necessary investments that encourage doctors, hospitals and other health care providers to work together to better coordinate care and keep people healthy,” Tavennaer said.
Through its Innovation Center, CMS will provide up front investments in infrastructure and redesigned care process to help eligible ACOs continue to provide higher quality care. This will help increase the number of beneficiaries – regardless of geographic location – that can benefit from lower costs and improved health care through Medicare ACOs.
CMS will recover these payments through an offset of an ACO’s earned shared savings.
ACOs encourage quality improvement and care coordination through the use of health information technology, helping to move the healthcare system to one that values quality over quantity and preventing illness over treating people after they get sick.
Eligibility is targeted to ACOs who joined the Shared Savings Program in 2012, 2013, 2014, and to new ACOs joining the Shared Savings Program in 2016. The application deadline for organizations that started in the Shared Savings Program in 2012 or 2013 will be December 1, 2014. Applications will be available in the Summer of 2015 for ACOs that started in the Shared Savings Program in 2014 or will start in 2016.
Recently, ACOs in the Pioneer ACO Model and the Medicare Shared Savings Program generated over $372 million in total program savings for Medicare ACOs while also improving the quality care delivered to Medicare beneficiaries.
For more information on the ACO Investment Model, visit: http://innovation.cms.gov/initiatives/ACO-Investment-Model/