On July 9, 2012, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) announced the selection of 89 additional Accountable Care Organizations (ACOs) to participate in the Medicare Shared Saving Program. 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 now are 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.
Five of the ACOs announced today applied for a version of the program that allows them to earn a higher share of any savings by also being held accountable for a share of any losses if the costs of care for the beneficiaries assigned to them increase.
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