The CMS presented the Next Generation ACO program in March, with applications due in June. These ACOs are an alternative to Medicare’s other ACO models, the Shared Savings and Pioneer programs. The Next Generation ACOs will let hospitals and physicians take more financial risk for their patient populations. It also created new ways to manage ACOs. The idea is that that could lure providers afraid of taking on riskier payment models.
The two risk-arrangement options are one in which providers can share in 80 percent of the savings or losses based on their quality and cost-control efforts, or one that involves 100 percent risk. And a formula that doesn’t solely rely on an ACO’s past performance determine the savings.
The Next Generation program could be a way to entice large integrated delivery systems that avoided other ACO models, and a way to keep Shared Savings and Pioneers ACOs from quitting ACOs entirely.