AHA urges CMS to allow more Medicare ACOs to share in more of their savings
In a submitted March 28, the AHA continued to urge the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) to modify the shared savings determination in the Medicare Shared Savings Program so that more accountable care organizations (ACO) can share in more of the savings they generate.
鈥淭his will allow them to continue to invest in the program and give ACOs adequate tools to coordinate and manage care,鈥 wrote AHA Executive Vice President Tom Nickels, commenting on a that would change how the program鈥檚 financial targets are calculated. 鈥淚n addition, while we are pleased that CMS continues to pursue improvements to the MSSP, it is unclear whether the proposals included in this rule will offer more than an incremental improvement in the program鈥檚 ability to attract new and renewing ACOs.鈥
The AHA also voiced concern with the agency鈥檚 proposal to define the circumstances in which it would reopen a determination of ACO savings and losses to make corrections. 鈥淚t seems to provide CMS with a blank check to reopen determinations and potentially recoup funds from an ACO, in some cases after the ACO鈥檚 contract with the MSSP is complete and/or due to errors the ACO did not commit,鈥 the AHA said.