Changes to ACO Benchmarks proposed to ACOs
As an effort to further the success of ACOs and improvement in health care, The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has announced that it wishes to move away from current ACO benchmarks. Instead of basing them on historical spending, they would like to analyze trends in regional fee-for-service costs. According to Andy Slavitt, current administrator for the CMS,“Medicare payments are an important catalyst to improving care delivery, spending our resources smarter and keeping people healthy,…This proposal allows ACOs in all parts of the country to be successful by recognizing both their achievements and improvements in how they provide care.”
He also stated that he hopes these proposed changes will lead to an increase in ACOs and the model for coordinate care, savings, and better health care.
CMS believes that this proposal could result in $120 million in net savings between 2017 and 2019.
Measurements under the current ACO model are against an annual cost target, instead of a year-over-year improvement. The new proposed method is expected to be more beneficial for all. Comments on this proposal are due by April 3.
