Memorial Medical Center Selected as New Medicare Shared Savings Program Accountable Care Organization
Thursday, January 14th, 2016 -- 11:29 AM
-The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) announced 121 new participants, representing 49 states and the District of Columbia, in an innovative initiative, Medicare Accountable Care Organizations (ACO's), designed to improve the care patients receive in the health care system and lower costs.Memorial Medical Center, Neillsville, WI, was selected as one of 100 new Medicare Shared Savings Program Accountable Care Organizations, providing Medicare beneficiaries with access to high-quality, coordinated care across the United State, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services announced. That brings the total to 434 Shared Savings Program ACOs serving over 7.7 million beneficiaries. "We believe we are the only rural critical access hospital that has been put into the ACO under this initiative," stated Ryan Neville, CEO of Memorial Medical Center.
Doctors, hospitals and health care providers establish ACOs in order to work together to provide higher-quality coordinated care to their patients, while helping to slow health care cost growth. Memorial Medical Center will be one of 434 ACOs participating in the Shared Savings Program as of January, 1st 2016. Beneficiaries seeing health care providers in ACOs always have the freedom to choose doctors inside or outside the ACO. ACOs receive a portion of the Medicare savings generated from lowering the growth in health care costs as long as they also meet standards for high quality care.
Since ACOs first began participating in the program in early 2012, thousands of health care providers have signed on to participate in the program, working together to provide better care to Medicare's seniors and people with disabilities. The new and renewing ACOs will bring approximately 15,000 physicians into the ACO program starting January 1st of 2016.
ACOs are delivering better care, and they continue to show promising results on cost savings. In 2014, they had a combined total net program savings of $411 million for 333 Medicare Shared Savings Program ACOs and 20 Pioneer ACOs. Based on 2014 quality and financial performance results for the Shared Savings Program, ACOs who started the program in 2012, 2013, and 2014, reported, in both 2013 and 2014, improvement on 27 of the 33 quality measures including patients' ratings of clinicians' communication, beneficiaries' rating of their doctors, screening for tobacco use and cessation, screening for high blood pressure, and Electronic Health Record use. Shared Savings Program ACOs also outperformed group practices reporting quality on 18 out of 22 measures.
Ultimately, this announcement is about delivering better care, spending dollars more wisely, and having healthier people and communities. ACOs drive progress in the way care is provided by improving the coordination and integration of health care, and improving the health of patients with a priority placed on prevention and wellness. More information about the Shared Savings Program is available at http://www.cms.gov/Medicare/Medicare-Fee-for-Service-Payment/sharedsavingsprogram/index.html?redirect=/sharedsavingsprogram/
For a list of new and renewing ACOs, visit the Shared Savings Program News and Updates webpage: http://www.cms.gov/Medicare/Medicare-Fee-for-Service-Payment/sharedsavingsprogram/News-and-Updates.html
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