Nearly half of people with traditional Medicare are aligned with Accountable Care Organizations, CMS said Jan. 29.
In a news release, the agency said 50 new ACOs joined the Medicare Shared Savings Program, the largest accountable care model CMS offers. There are now 480 ACOs participating in shared savings, and another 245 organizations are participating in ACO REACH and Kidney Care Choices.
The agency will pay $20 million in advanced investment payments to 19 newly formed ACOs to fund care for underserved beneficiaries, CMS said. The funding will go toward hiring community health workers, health assessment and screening tools, and quality improvement.
In a Jan. 29 statement, Clif Gaus, president of the National Association of ACOs, said the association appreciates the growth of the ACO program, but CMS needs to do more to reach its goal of having all traditional Medicare beneficiaries in ACO relationships by 2030.
"This includes correcting the benchmark ratchet that will make it more difficult for ACOs to create sustainable savings, improving quality reporting requirements to make it less burdensome for ACOs, updating patient engagement requirements, and leveraging MSSP as an innovation platform with hybrid primary care payments and more options for risk," Dr. Gaus said.