A recent article by ECG Management Consultants analyzes why sponsoring an MSSP ACO makes sense for hospitals or health systems.
Editor's Note: This article originally appeared on ECG's website.
In a ruling called “Pathways to Success,” the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has overhauled the Medicare Shared Savings Program (MSSP), accelerating the path to financial risk for MSSP ACOs. Additionally, the final rule memorializing Pathways to Success included evidence that low-revenue ACOs, which are typically physician led, generate more savings than high-revenue ACOs, which often include hospitals.
Both developments—the accelerated path to risk and the comparatively poor results for hospital-backed ACOs—may give pause to hospitals and health systems that had been considering the development of an MSSP ACO. After all, ACOs are expensive to develop, and they now will have to take on more risk in the MSSP. At the same time, in 2016 and 2017, only about a quarter of high-revenue ACOs earned shared savings. Considering these facts, does sponsoring an MSSP ACO make sense for a hospital or health system? Here are five circumstances in which the answer may still be yes. Click here to continue>>
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