NAACOS Celebrates 10th Anniversary of Largest ACO Model

Medicare’s largest and most successful value-based care program celebrates its 10th anniversary in April, and the National Association of ACOs (NAACOS) (@NAACOSnews) is celebrating with a social media campaign of its own. The Medicare Shared Savings Program welcomed its first class of accountable care organizations (ACOs) on April 1, 2012, with the 27 participants covering nearly 375,000 beneficiaries in 18 states. A decade later, the Shared Savings Program includes 483 ACOs serving 11 million beneficiaries across the country, making it Medicare’s largest alternative payment model in operation.

To celebrate MSSP’s 10th “birthday” and to spread awareness and support for Medicare’s leading value-based care program, NAACOS is launching a social media campaign with the hashtag #HappyBirthdayMSSP and will be sharing program highlights throughout the month of April. In addition, NAACOS has published a communications toolkit to help other organizations and individuals who support the MSSP to share success stories and reflect on the past 10 years of the program.

“Celebrating the 10-year anniversary of the MSSP, highlighting the program’s successes, and reflecting on lessons learned provides an important opportunity to engage both beneficiaries and providers in a conversation about accountable care,” said Clif Gaus, Sc.D., NAACOS President and CEO. “If CMS wants to improve the quality of care and bend the cost curve, we must grow ACO participation.

ACOs have saved Medicare $13.3 billion in gross savings and $4.7 billion in net savings since 2012. Importantly, data show that MSSP ACOs provide high quality care to Medicare beneficiaries, achieving an average quality score of 97.8 out of 100 in PY 2020. In 2020 alone, 83 percent of MSSP ACOs saved Medicare money, generating $4.145 billion in savings compared to their benchmarks, recording the program’s best year yet. The MSSP is the largest total cost of care model in Medicare, currently serving nearly a third of traditional Medicare beneficiaries.

Last year, the CMS Innovation Center set a goal to have all traditional Medicare beneficiaries in a care relationship with a provider who is accountable for their quality and total cost of care by 2030. They have also acknowledged the need to educate beneficiaries on what an accountable care relationship is and engage providers on the potential value of participating in value-based care in order to meet this goal.

About NAACOS
The National Association of ACOs (NAACOS) represents more than 12 million beneficiary lives through hundreds of organizations participating in population health-focused payment and delivery models in Medicare, Medicaid, and commercial insurance. Models include the Medicare Shared Savings Program (MSSP), Global and Professional Direct Contracting, and alternative payment models supported by a myriad of commercial health plans and Medicare Advantage. NAACOS is a member-led and member-owned nonprofit organization that works to improve quality of care, outcomes, and healthcare cost efficiency.