FierceHealthcare reported that Patrick Conway, M.D., chief medical officer and deputy administrator for innovation and quality at CMS, said that the ”Next Generation Accountable Care Organization” model will give participants more predictable financial targets and greater opportunities to coordinate care and engage beneficiaries.

“The goal is to determine whether stronger financial incentives for ACOs can improve health outcomes and reduce expenses of Medicare patients, he said.”

“ACO’s will have more tools to manage patient care, he said, including additional coverage of telehealth and post-discharge home services as well as reward payments to beneficiaries for receiving care from ACO’s.”

“The new ACO model will have two risk tracks–one of which is ‘essentially near 100 percent risk,”’  Dr. Conway said. And there will be four payment systems.