News: Next Generation ACO model saves $62 million in first year

Last week, CMS released a report on the first-year performance of the agency’s Next Generation Accountable Care Organization (ACO) model. For the 2016 performance year, the model generated net savings for Medicare of about $62 million while maintaining quality of care for beneficiaries, according to the CMS release.

The Next Generation ACO model is a two-sided risk model in which the participants take on some of the risk themselves.

“[Next Generation ACOs] are delivering value and providing quality care to patients and taxpayers even in their first performance year, and we believe that these results are achievable for other ACOs under similar incentives,” said CMS Administrator Seema Verma in the CMS release.

The first cohort in the Next Generation ACO model, for performance year 2016, included only 18 ACOs, HealthLeaders Media reported. Though they haven’t been studied yet, two additional cohorts formed in 2017 and 2018, bringing the total number of participating ACOs up to 51 today.

By comparison, the older ACO model—the Medicare Shared Savings Program—has 561 participating ACOs this year. Most of the tracks in that program do not include downside risk, according to HealthLeaders Media.

Editor’s note: This article originally appeared in HealthLeaders Media. To read the release from CMS, click here. To read the full report from CMS, click here.