CMS Announces Over 100 New ACOs Launched Jan. 1

CMS announced on Jan. 10 that 106 new accountable care organizations (ACOs) began operating on Jan. 1 as part of the agency’s Shared Savings Program. This total includes 15 Advanced Payment Model ACOs.

This latest launch nearly doubles the size of this CMS program, bringing the total ACOs now operating to 250. The program began last April with 27 ACOs; 89 were added in July. An estimated 4 million Medicare fee-for-service beneficiaries are now assigned to an ACO, according to CMS’s Acting Principal Deputy Administrator Jonathan Blum, during a press event announcing the ACOs.

Blum added that there were over 150 applicants for the ACO program. The primary reason for rejection was an applicant’s inability to meet the 5,000 beneficiary threshold as outlined in the health care reform law.

The next application period for organizations that wish to participate in the Shared Savings Program beginning in January 2014 is summer 2013. More information is available on the CMS website.

Source: CAP Statline