Posts Tagged ‘Medicare Shared Savings Program’

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Guest Post: Innovative, Specialized Palliative Care Programs Help ACOs Improve Patient Care, Achieve Success in Medicare Shared Savings Program

September 13th, 2018 by Greer Myers

Home-based Palliative Care

A structured, systematized approach to home-based palliative care: One of the most effective ways to manage and enhance care delivery for vulnerable, costly populations.

Under the new Medicare Shared Savings Program (MSSP), Accountable Care Organizations (ACOs) will be required to take on more risk as a rule of engagement and participation. The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) is also shrinking the amount of time ACOs can be in an upside-only model to two years, putting additional pressure on ACO leaders to initiate changes. Currently, 82 percent of ACOs participating in the MSSP are in an upside-only model.

This has prompted many organizations to seek innovative strategies that will enable them to remain in the program and achieve success. One proven approach involves the adoption of a structured and systematized home-based palliative care program designed to identify patients with serious or advanced illness earlier in the disease process and offer them services outside of the hospital setting.

The palliative care team, primarily specially trained nurses and social workers, addresses the unique needs of the patient and family, taking into consideration their culture and values when developing a patient-centered approach to care. The team coordinates patient care across the continuum, which may include specialty care, acute, post-acute and community-based care needs.

For ACOs facing tight timeframes for implementing programmatic changes, this structured approach to community-based palliative care can be rapidly deployed in any geographic area and quickly scaled for larger populations.

Supporting the Medical Home

Home-based palliative care programs align with the medical home model through the provision of specialized care for people living with serious or advanced illness. Sharing priorities with the medical home, both emphasize the importance of care in the home, providing appropriate social services, clinical assessments and referrals, and partnering with physicians to deliver a solution that is patient-centered, data-driven and evidence-based.

A structured, systematized approach to home-based palliative care is one of the most effective ways to manage and enhance care delivery within this vulnerable, costly population. Quality controls and reporting are essential to improving quality and decreasing cost. Programs offering modular continuing education to palliative care team members, as well as guided tools and electronic patient assessments, enable highly skilled clinicians to maximize the impact of member outreach, enrollment and engagement.

Palliative care teams extend the reach and frequency of patient engagement, establishing collaborative relationships and reporting with the medical home that further strengthen care coordination. This level of connectivity and interaction with the medical home represents a significant opportunity to affect quality and cost.

Advantages for Patients and ACOs

Populations burdened by a serious or advanced illness place incredible strain on ACO resources, compromising the organization’s ability to improve care while generating shared savings under the MSSP model. By adopting the medical home/home-based palliative care approach, ACOs can turn this high cost population into an opportunity: improving quality and patient satisfaction while reducing cost and generating shared savings through reduced unnecessary hospital admissions, readmissions and ICU stays. Furthermore, this approach avoids over-medicalized care and high-cost services that may not align with the patient’s goals of care.

Integrating home-based palliative care within the medical home model ensures that each member is treated with respect, dignity, and compassion. This leads to a better quality of life, thanks to strong and trusting engagement with specialized palliative care professionals. Overall, this integrated model aims to improve quality and care coordination, so that individuals access care in the right place, at the right time, and in the manner that best suits a patient’s goals of care.

What’s more, specially trained palliative clinicians act as an extension of the primary treating physician and strengthen the medical home. The palliative nurses and social workers establish goals of care, provide supportive home-based care and assess patient and caregiver status, reporting relevant information to the primary treating physician to fill gaps in care and better align goals with care received.

Innovation in the Real World

Let’s consider a typical patient experience that is all too familiar: An 89-year old man with congestive heart failure (CHF) experienced five emergency room visits and five hospital admissions in one year before his condition worsened and he was intubated in the ICU. Prior to this, he had been seeing his cardiologist and primary care provider for adjustments to his medications, which he was unable to manage at home.

Now consider the vastly better approach of in-home palliative care: This same patient would have informed providers he did not want to go to the hospital or have intubation. When his health deteriorated, his social worker would have met with him and his family to discuss palliative care and supportive care options. He would have also been placed on the palliative care program with home visits made by palliative care specialists as needed. When the time came, his palliative care specialist would have evaluated hospice options with the patient and his family, and he would have died in the manner of his choosing – peacefully at home.

An innovative palliative care approach provides specialized patient/caregiver support and enhances communication with the primary treating physician. This facilitates a shared decision-making model, which results in better congruence between a patient’s individual goals of care and medical care received. It is a recipe for improving quality of life and satisfaction with the care that is delivered.

Greer Myers

Greer Myers

About the Author: Greer Myers is the president, Turn-Key Health and executive vice president, chief development officer, Enclara Pharmacia. With more than 20 years of healthcare experience, Mr. Myers joined Enclara Healthcare in 2014, and maintains dual roles as its President of Turn-Key Health and its EVP of Corporate Development of Enclara Pharmacia. Bringing strengths in post-acute operations, mergers and acquisitions, pharmacy benefits management, strategy and business development, he also has strong vertical experience in payer, provider and healthcare IT verticals.

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Infographic: Proposed Changes to ACO Involvement in the Medicare Shared Savings Program

August 29th, 2018 by Melanie Matthews

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services has proposed a new “Pathways to Success” rule to increase the financial risk doctors and hospitals participating in the Medicare Shared
Savings Program take on to increase accountability of healthcare quality and spending for patients, according to a new infographic by the South Dakota Association of Healthcare Organizations.

The infographic examines the key changes proposed in the “Pathways to Success” rule.

Profiting from Population Health Revenue in an ACO: Framework for Medicare Shared Savings and MIPS SuccessA laser focus on population health interventions and processes can generate immediate revenue streams for fledgling accountable care organizations that support the hard work of creating a sustainable ACO business model. This population health priority has proven a lucrative strategy for Caravan Health, whose 23 ACO clients saved more than $26 million across approximately 250,000 covered lives in 2016 under the Medicare Shared Savings Program (MSSP).

Profiting from Population Health Revenue in an ACO: Framework for Medicare Shared Savings and MIPS Success examines Caravan Health’s population health-focused approach for ACOs and its potential for positioning ACOs for success under MSSP and MACRA’s Merit-based Incentive Payment System (MIPS).

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In Successful ACOs, Population Health Focus Paves Way for Shared Savings Payouts

January 25th, 2018 by Patricia Donovan

Physician practices toiling in fledgling ACOs and obsessing over shared savings that have not yet materialized, take heart: population health offers multiple revenue streams for accountable care organizations waiting for the “gravy” of accountable care.

“Gravy” is the way Tim Gronniger, senior vice president of development and strategy for Caravan Health, refers to ACO shared savings payouts, which he says can take considerable time to accrue.

“It is literally two years from the time you jump into an ACO before you have even the chance of a shared savings payout,” Gronniger told participants in Generating Population Health Revenue: ACO Best Practices for Medicare Shared Savings and MIPS Success, a January 2018 webcast now available for replay.

Obsessing over shared savings is one of the biggest mistakes hospitals in ACOs can make, he added.

This delay is one reason Caravan Health urges its ACOs to adopt a population health focus, whether pursuing the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) Quality Payment Program (QPP) Merit-based Incentive Payment System (MIPS) or the Medicare Shared Savings Program (MSSP).

Gronniger’s advice is predicated on his organization’s experience of mentoring 38 ACOs. In 2016, Caravan Health’s ACOs saved more than $26 million in the MSSP program and achieved higher than average quality scores and quality reporting scores, according to recently released CMS data.

Walking attendees through a MACRA primer, Gronniger underscored the challenges of the MIPS program, one of three tracks offered under the Quality Payment Program. “Barring a really exceptional performance on MIPS, you can’t even break even over the next few years on physician compensation,” he said.

In the meantime, ACOs should utilize recently rolled out Medicare billing codes, from the annual wellness visit (AWV) to advanced care planning, to generate wellness revenue. With proper planning, reengineering of staffing and clinical work flows, a practice could generate anywhere from five hundred to one thousand dollars annually per eligible Medicare patient, Gronniger estimates—monies that offset the cost of constructing a sustainable ACO business model.

To back up this population health rationale, Gronniger pointed to data from an ACO client demonstrating the impact of a cohesive PHM approach, including the use of trained population health nurses, on completion rates for preventive screenings. For less top-of-mind screenings like falls assessment and smoking cessation, completion rates rose from negligible to near-universal levels, he said.

“These are recommended sets of screens that are required by CMS, but that also help ACOs with quality measures,” he added.

Gronniger also shared examples of dashboards, scorecards and roadmaps Caravan Health employs to help keep client ACOs on track. An ACO success strategy involves “a lot of dashboarding, checking in, and discussion of problems and barriers, discussion of solutions, and monthly and quarterly measurement and reporting back,” he said.

Beyond coveted shared savings, ACO participation offers significant non-financial benefits, including quality improvements under both MSSP and MIPS standards, availability of ACO-specific waivers, and access to proprietary performance data.

Overall, ACO participation can make providers more attractive both to commercial contractors and to potential patients perusing Physician Compare ratings in greater numbers.

Gronniger ended by weighing in on the recent recommendation by the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission (MedPAC) to repeal and replace the MIPS program.

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Posted in Accountable Care Organizations, Affordable Care Act, Care Coordination, Chronic Care Management, Healthcare Costs, Healthcare Quality Ratings, Healthcare Reform, MACRA, Medicare, Population Health Management, Value-Based Reimbursement | Comments Off on In Successful ACOs, Population Health Focus Paves Way for Shared Savings Payouts

2017 ACO Snapshot: As Adoption Swells, Social Determinants of Health High on Accountable Care Agenda

June 29th, 2017 by Patricia Donovan

Nearly two-thirds of 2017 ACO Survey respondents attribute a reduction in hospital readmissions to accountable care activity.

Healthcare organizations may have been wary back in 2011, when the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) first introduced the accountable care organization (ACO) model. The HHS viewed the ACO framework as a tool to contain skyrocketing healthcare costs.

Fast-forward six years, and most resistance to ACOs appears to have dissipated. According to 2017 ACO metrics from the Healthcare Intelligence Network (HIN), ACO adoption more than doubled from 2013 to 2017, with the number of healthcare organizations participating in ACOs rising from 34 to 71 percent.

During that same period, the percentage of ACOs using shared savings models to reimburse its providers increased from 22 to 33 percent, HIN’s fourth comprehensive ACO snapshot found.

And in the spirit of delivering patient-centered, value-based care, ACOs have embraced a whole-person approach. In new ACO benchmarks identified this year, 37 percent of ACOs assess members for social determinants of health (SDOH). In support of that trend, the 2017 survey also found that one-third of responding ACOs include behavioral health providers.

Since that first accountable care foray by HHS, the number of ACO models has proliferated. The May 2017 HIN survey found that, of current ACO initiatives, the Medicare Shared Savings Program (MSSP) from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) remains the front runner, with MSSP participation hovering near the same 66 percent level attained in HIN’s 2013 ACO snapshot.

Looking ahead to ACO models launching in 2018, 24 percent of respondents will embrace the Medicare ACO Track 1+ Model, a payment design that incorporates more limited downside risk.

This 2017 accountable care snapshot, which reflects feedback from 104 hospitals, health systems, payors, physician practices and others, also captured the following trends:

  • More than half—57 percent—participate in the Medicare Chronic Care Management program;
  • Cost and provider reimbursement are the top ACO challenges for 18 percent of 2017 respondents;
  • Clinical outcomes are the most telling measure of ACO success, say 83 percent of responding ACOs;
  • Twenty-nine percent of respondents not currently administering an ACO expect to launch an accountable care organization in the coming year;
  • 75 percent expect CMS to try and proactively assign Medicare beneficiaries to physician ACO panels to boost patient and provider participation.

Download HIN’s latest white paper, “Accountable Care Organizations in 2017: ACO Adoption Doubles in 4 Years As Shared Savings Gain Favor,” for a summary of May 2017 feedback from 104 hospitals and health systems, multi-specialty physician practices, health plans, and others on ACO activity.

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Posted in Accountable Care Organizations, Affordable Care Act, Behavioral Health, Care Management, Chronic Care Management, Healthcare Benchmarks, Healthcare Reform, Hospital Readmissions, Physician-Hospital Organizations, Quality Improvement, Reducing Readmissions, Social Determinants of health, Value-Based Reimbursement | Comments Off on 2017 ACO Snapshot: As Adoption Swells, Social Determinants of Health High on Accountable Care Agenda

Breaking Down UTSACN Advanced Care Coordination: “Data Analyst Is Your Best Friend”

October 6th, 2016 by Patricia Donovan

advanced care coordination

Data is useless unless transformed into actionable information, notes Cathy Bryan, UTSACN director of care coordination.

Although the care coordination director for UT Southwestern’s Accountable Care Network (UTSACN) insists there’s no secret sauce that ensures ACO success, Cathy O’Brien readily proposes eight ingredients to season care management initiatives.

It’s a recipe heavy on data analytics, and one destined to fail unless extracted data is transformed into actionable information, emphasized Ms. Bryan during Advanced Care Coordination: Bridging the Gap Between Appropriate Levels of Care and Care Plan Adherence for ACO Attributed Lives, a September 2016 webinar now available for replay.

For that transformation, the Year Three Medicare Shared Savings Program (MSSP) ACO relies heavily on its data analyst. “Your analyst is your best friend. You need someone who is skilled and knows how to analyze large, complex data sources like you get with ACO claims data and other sources,” Ms. Bryan said.

To better manage its nearly 250,000 ACO-attributed lives (up from 19,000 in 2014), UTSACN leverages data from a number of sources, including paid claims data from CMS and commercial payors; more than 100 disparate electronic medical record (EMR) systems; and ADT feeds. This data mining has helped UTSACN to identify and bridge care and quality gaps, manage transitions in care, and risk-stratify its population for care management, including ‘risking risk’ patients exhibiting signs of struggle with adherence to care plans.

It’s also provided a starker picture of utilization, especially on the home health front. When data indicated UTSACN home health use had risen to levels more than twice the national average, UTSACN’s analyst created an internal efficiency index to categorize the more than 1,200 home health agencies in use. The use of this claims-based, risk-adjusted score ultimately pared the home health network to a manageable twenty agencies and saved approximately $6 million in home health utilization costs in the first quarter of 2016 alone.

To engage physicians, UTSACN supported the rollout of this narrow network with a large-scale reeducation effort. Presented with the rationale for this change, providers now better understand Medicare’s home health utilization rules and their accountability to the ACO for their share of costs, utilization and outcomes, notes Bryan.

“You’ve got to create buy-in. You don’t just take providers a list and say, here’s your problem. You’ve got to take a solution to them.”

Another solution designed to support providers is UTSACN’s primary-care-centric model, in which care coordination teams are paired geographically with eight to fifteen physician practices. Composed of embedded care coordinators (as well as field staff that do in-home work), the care coordination teams reach out to the practices’ patients on their behalf.

“We really see our team as an extension of the primary care practice, and we function as such. As we introduce ourselves to patients, we say we’re with the UT Southwestern Accountable Care Network calling on behalf of Dr. Smith, your primary care physician.”

As that extension, embedded care coordinators help physician practices to address barriers to patients’ medical plans of care, from lack of transportation to medication costs to the presence of falls risks in the home.

Click here to listen to an interview with Ms. Bryan.

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Posted in Accountable Care Organizations, Care Coordination, Chronic Care Management, Data Analytics, Embedded Case Management, Healthcare Utilization, Physician Practices | Comments Off on Breaking Down UTSACN Advanced Care Coordination: “Data Analyst Is Your Best Friend”

AMITA Health Connected Care Management: Patients Transitioned But Never Really Discharged

August 23rd, 2016 by Patricia Donovan

Connected care includes AMITA Health front line staff, administrators, physicians, hospital executives and community partners.


Does a health system really need four types of care managers?

When AMITA Health set out to craft an ambulatory care coordination team for its highest-risk Medicare beneficiaries, it realized it didn’t.

As part of its thirteen-point plan to revamp care management across its continuum, the newly minted Medicare Shared Savings Program (MSSP) accountable care organization (ACO) reexamined the roles of its navigators, case managers, patient-centered home care managers and ACO care managers, ultimately abandoning its siloed approach in favor of a more human-centric model of care.

“We really needed a better way to care for our patients across the continuum,” explained Susan Wickey, vice president, quality and care management at AMITA Health, during Reducing Readmissions and Avoidable Emergency Department Visits Through a Connected Care Management Strategy, an August 2016 webinar now available for replay. “We had to identify and remove those silos, and break down those barriers.”

AMITA Health’s decision to remake care management was a response to its MSSP program goal of fulfilling the Triple Aim: improving population health and experience of care while fostering appropriate utilization and cost. The initiative in no way devalued care managers’ contributions. “Our care coordinators across the continuum serve as our first responders when high risk patients need intervention,” said Ms. Wickey.

In the process of improving efficiencies, the nine-hospital system discovered that often, one could be more effective than four.

With help from Phillips Healthcare Consulting Division, AMITA inventoried its care management resources, then created a single centralized care management hub. Communication would occur via a single universal transfer form for each patient, for whom a single care plan would be developed. This power of one echoed throughout the transformation as AMITA restructured processes and programs.

AMITA rolled out the program initially with one unit of patients; today, all nine of AMITA Health’s hospitals operate with some component of this enterprise-wide redesign.

“We wanted to be a health system where our patients were transitioned but never really discharged from our healthcare system,” explained Ms. Wickey’s co-presenter, Dr. Luke Hansen, vice president and chief medical officer, population health for AMITA Health. “We never discharge a patient from our system; rather we transition our patients to the most appropriate setting.”

“This collaborative vision of connected care includes all of the front line staff, key administrators, physicians, hospital executives, along with AMITA’s community partners,” added Ms. Wickey.

In assessing its MSSP experience, Dr. Hansen said access to Medicare claims data enabled AMITA Health to track utilization, a first for the organization. Trends toward lower all-cause readmissions, lower admissions for ambulatory-sensitive conditions and emergency department visits were recorded, he said. And while he can’t definitely credit the MSSP for his organization’s improved quality scores in recent years, he takes pride in AMITA’s achievements of strengthening quality while holding costs relatively stable.

However, improvements have leveled off since 2013, its first MSSP performance year, which frustrates the population health CMO. “As those of you participating in MSSP know, year-over-year improvement is what you need to do to succeed.”

“We live that tension between our old models of care delivery, which were very successful for our organization, and new models, which we will have to adopt in a timely way to be successful in the future,” concluded Dr. Hansen.

Click here for an audio interview with Dr. Hansen.

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Posted in Accountable Care Organizations, Care Coordination, Care Management, Case Management, Chronic Care Management, Healthcare Costs, Healthcare Utilization, Hospital Readmissions, Patient-Centered Medical Home | Comments Off on AMITA Health Connected Care Management: Patients Transitioned But Never Really Discharged

ACOs: MSSP Commitment Hinges on MACRA Advanced APM Bonus Eligibility

June 2nd, 2016 by Patricia Donovan

ACO

A new NAACOS report polls ACOs on operating costs, MACRA and risk readiness.

More than half—56 percent—of accountable care organizations (ACOs) in the Medicare Shared Savings Program (MSSP) indicated they would leave the MSSP program if their ACOs were not eligible for the 5 percent Advanced Alternative Payment Model (APM) bonus under MACRA, according to a May 2016 survey by the National Association of ACOs (NAACOS).

A third of ACOs said they would stay in the MSSP program even if deemed ineligible for the bonus, the NAACOS survey found.

The Alternative Payment Model is one of two paths for participation in the quality improvement programs included in the MACRA legislation for eligible professionals; the other is the Merit-Based Incentive Payment System (MIPS).

Currently, MSSP Track 1, a one-sided payment model, is not among the models that would qualify for the APM track—which CMS calls “Advanced APMs”—under the proposed MACRA rule; however, the MSSP Tracks 2 and 3, Next Generation, and Pioneer ACO programs, which all require downside risk, would qualify as APMs.

Approximately 411 MSSP ACOs, or 95 percent, participate in Track 1 of the program, according to April 2016 data from CMS.

All APM qualifying participants will receive a 5 percent lump sum bonus on their Medicare payments for 2019 through 2024. This bonus will be in addition to the incentive paid through existing contracts with the qualified APM (e.g., MSSP) demonstration program, etc.

Beginning in 2026, these ACOs will qualify for a 0.75 percent increase in their payments each year.

In other findings, the NAACOS survey also determined the following:

  • More than half of respondents (51 percent) describe their ongoing ACO operational costs as very significant;
  • The average total ACO operating costs for all respondents is $1.6 million per year, but the cost difference is significant between single or multi-ACOs, with single ACOs averaging just under $2 million and multi-ACOs averaging almost $1 million per year.
  • If required by CMS to take on downside risk, 43 percent said they would leave the MSSP program and about a third would stay (33 percent).
  • Over three quarters of the ACO respondents (84 percent) said they would be ready for downside risk within the next six years, with 44 percent of those even ready as soon as one to three years.

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6 Population Health Strategies to Set Stage for Physician Reimbursement

May 12th, 2016 by Patricia Donovan

Robert Fortini, PNP

A team-based, top-of-license approach is key to population health success, says Robert Fortini, PNP, Bon Secours Medical Group chief clinical officer.

In the last six years, Bon Secours Medical Group (BSMG) has deployed a half-dozen population health strategies as groundwork for its Next Generation Healthcare offering. Here, Robert Fortini, PNP, BSMG chief clinical officer, identifies the tactics his organization leverages to effect health behavior change.

The specific population health strategies Bon Secours has deployed over the last six years start with the patient-centered medical home (PCMH) concept. I’m an avid believer in the concept of a team of professionals working together, along with that ‘top of license’ aspect, where it’s not just the sole domain of the independent ‘cowboy’ physician taking care of the patients. It’s pharmacists, nurses, social workers, and registered dietitians. It’s the entire team, with everyone having a vested responsibility for practicing to the top of his or her license.

Next, access is huge. It is ridiculous to think we can manage chronic disease in four 15-minute visits a year scheduled between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m. Monday through Friday, while closing at lunchtime. It’s absolutely ludicrous. We are blowing that up by opening weekends and evenings and using technology to expand access, which is critical to affecting that behavioral change.

Third, know your population. Identifying effectively those who are most at risk with advanced analytics to make your efforts more efficient is very important.

Next is managed care contracting—aggressively coming to the table with our payors to help guide the conversations and craft the contracts and benefit designs that are attainable and achievable. That has been a new experience for Bon Secours in the last five years in particular. We have a CMS-based Medicare Shared Savings Program (MSSP) Accountable Care Organization (ACO) covering about 30,000 attributed lives. We also have a number of commercial ACO-type contractual relationships with our commercial payors.

Fifth on the list: aggressive growth for palliative and hospice. We have invested very significantly in management of advanced illness that occurs at the end of life. The Medicare numbers around that are staggering: 40 percent of Medicare spend occurs in the last two years of life, and the pain, suffering, and emotional angst that occurs for patients and their families is incredible. Investing in the resources necessary to manage that effectively has been our strategic initiative at Bon Secours. We have a very large, well-versed palliative program that provides inpatient, outpatient and even home-based palliative services. And our hospice agency, which I am responsible for in addition to our medical group, has quadrupled in size in the last two years alone.

Then, finally, we manage the white space with powered care coordination, which includes health promotion, chronic disease management, care transition management, and more.

Source: Physician Reimbursement in 2016: 4 Billable Medicare Events to Maximize Care Management Revenue and Results

http://hin.3dcartstores.com/Physician-Reimbursement-in-2016-4-Billable-Medicare-Events-to-Maximize-Care-Management-Revenue-and-Results_p_5143.html

Physician Reimbursement in 2016: 4 Billable Medicare Events to Maximize Care Management Revenue and Results details the ways in which Bon Secours Medical Group (BSMG) leverages a team-based care approach, expanded care access and technology to capitalize on four Medicare billing events: transitional care management, chronic care management, Medicare annual wellness visits and advance care planning.

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Posted in Accountable Care Organizations, Care Coordination, Care Transitions, Case Management, Data Analytics, Embedded Case Management, Health Risk Assessment, Hospice, Palliative Care, Patient-Centered Medical Home, Population Health Management, Value-Based Reimbursement | Comments Off on 6 Population Health Strategies to Set Stage for Physician Reimbursement

Infographic: Medicare ACO Road Map

April 22nd, 2016 by Melanie Matthews

Provider participation in accountable care organizations (ACOs) is becoming the new normal. As of January 1, 2016, there were 434 ACOs in the Medicare Shared Savings Program. More than 160,000 providers now participate in an MSSP ACO. These organizations now serve 7.7 million Medicare beneficiaries residing in 49 of the 50 states, according to a new infographic by PYA.

The infographic provides a road map to the MSSP destination of shared savings.

With the nation’s leading accountable care organizations already testing the waters with CMS’ newest value-based reimbursement opportunity, the Next Generation Accountable Care Organization Model, healthcare organizations are evaluating how this new opportunity aligns with their value-based contracting strategy. With a looming application deadline for a 2017 start for the next round of Next Generation ACOs, the clock is ticking. And, with one approved Next Generation ACO, River Health ACO, already departing the program effective February 1st, the “Go-No Go” decision has become even more critical.

During Next Generation ACO: An Organizational Readiness Assessment, a 60-minute webinar on April 5, 2016, now available for replay, Healthcare Strategy Group’s Travis Ansel, senior manager of strategic services, and Walter Hankwitz, senior accountable care advisor, will provide a value-based, risk contract roadmap to determine organizational readiness for participation in the Next Generation ACO Model in particular and in risk-based contracts in general.

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Infographic: MSSP and Next Generation ACO Risk Scenarios

March 21st, 2016 by Melanie Matthews

As healthcare shifts its focus to improved care, healthier populations and reduced costs, accountable care organizations (ACOs) stand to make a lasting, positive impact on the United States healthcare system and healthcare organizations’ bottom lines, according to a new infographic by Greenway Health.

Participation in the Medicare Shared Savings Program (MSSP) has helped ACOs earn shared savings—but what percentage of savings can you earn and what risk do you assume for participating? The infographic examines the features of each track of the MSSP program, including the Next Generation ACO Model.

With the nation’s leading accountable care organizations already testing the waters with CMS’ newest value-based reimbursement opportunity, the Next Generation Accountable Care Organization Model, healthcare organizations are evaluating how this new opportunity aligns with their value-based contracting strategy. With a looming application deadline for a 2017 start for the next round of Next Generation ACOs, the clock is ticking. And, with one approved Next Generation ACO, River Health ACO, already departing the program effective February 1st, the “Go-No Go” decision has become even more critical.

During Next Generation ACO: An Organizational Readiness Assessment, a 60-minute webinar on April 5, 2016 at 1:30 p.m. Eastern, Healthcare Strategy Group’s Travis Ansel, senior manager of strategic services, and Walter Hankwitz, senior accountable care advisor, will provide a value-based, risk contract roadmap to determine organizational readiness for participation in the Next Generation ACO Model in particular and in risk-based contracts in general.

Get the latest healthcare infographics delivered to your e-inbox with Eye on Infographics, a bi-weekly, e-newsletter digest of visual healthcare data. Click here to sign up today.

Have an infographic you’d like featured on our site? Click here for submission guidelines.

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