Medicare Proposes Change To ACO Program To Ease Transition To Performance-Based Risk Arrangements

On December 1, 2014, the federal Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) proposed adjustments to the Medicare Accountable Care Organization (ACO) program to support a stepped transition to performance-based risk arrangements for ACOs participating in the Shared Savings Program (MSSP). Currently, the initial MSSP ACO three-year contracts allowed the ACOs to chose from two risk-sharing arrangements, Track 1 a one-sided model in which the ACO only shared savings; or Track 2 a two-sided full-risk model that offered the ACO a greater percentage of shared savings but also required the ACO to repay CMS . . .