Medicare ACOs generate nearly $740 million in 2018 net savings

The Medicare Shared Savings Program generated $739.4 million in total net savings across 548 accountable care organizations in 2018, Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services Administrator Seema Verma announced yesterday. Participating ACOs agree to be held accountable for the quality, cost and experience of care of an assigned Medicare fee-for-service beneficiary population, and can participate at different levels of risk. In particular, ACOs taking accountability for cost increases, or “downside risk,” showed an average reduction in spending relative to their targets of $96 per beneficiary in 2018, Verma said. Among other results, 93% of eligible ACOs earned quality improvement reward points, with ACOs showing the greatest improvements in preventive health measures. For the full 2018 financial and quality performance results, visit www.cms.gov.