On July 9, CMS announced the selection of 89 additional Accountable Care Organizations (ACOs) nationwide to participate in the Medicare Shared Saving Program. North Bend Medical Center in Coos Bay was among the newly-named ACOs.
The selected organizations will take responsibility for coordinating care for nearly 1.2 million beneficiaries in 40 States and Washington, D.C. In total, there are now 154 organizations participating in Medicare shared savings initiatives, serving over 2.4 million Medicare patients across the country.
All ACOs that succeed in reducing the rate of growth in the cost of care while providing high quality care may share in the savings to Medicare. To ensure high quality of care, ACOs will report performance on 33 measures relating to care coordination and patient safety, use of appropriate preventive health services, improved care for at-risk populations, and patient and caregiver experience of care.
Participation in an ACO is purely voluntary for providers. Because the Shared Savings Program is part of the original Medicare fee-for-service program, beneficiaries served by these ACOs will continue to have free choice about the care they receive and from whom they seek care, without regard to whether a particular provider or supplier is participating in an ACO.
For more information from CMS and a list of ACOs, visit http://go.cms.gov/LbloNA.