Wellmark Reports Iowa Commercial ACO Savings Of $35 Million For 2015

On July 26, 2016, Wellmark Blue Cross and Blue Shield said its 13 commercial accountable care organization (ACO) arrangements in Iowa generated savings of $35 million during 2015. The 13 ACOs are accountable for more than 179,000 fully insured Wellmark members. As a group, the ACOs improved their overall quality scores by more than 4%. Their savings averaged almost $200 per member per year.

Wellmark’s ACO contracts offer the participating organizations a share of the savings. However, the ACOs are at-risk of loss if they fail to meet quality benchmarks or their costs are higher than expected . . .