– Accountable care organization (ACO) success was no stranger to physicians at Advocate Health Care and Aurora Health Care. Now that the two major health systems are combined, the new organization’s three affiliated ACOs are continuing on the path to improved care quality at lower costs.
CMS reported earlier this month that ACOs in the Medicare Shared Savings Program saved $739 million, with nearly all ACOs satisfactorily reporting quality measures and meeting quality performance standards in 2018.
Notably, about two-thirds of the ACOs participating in the program that year reduced their costs compared to a CMS-set spending benchmark. However, only about 37 percent of the ACOs saved enough to share in the savings that year, CMS said.
Qualifying for shared savings payments while also coordinating care is an enormous task. But ACOs affiliated with Advocate Aurora Health have stepped up to the challenge.
In 2018, Advocate Aurora Health’s three ACOs saved a combined $61 million under the MSSP while also ranking among the largest ACOs in the nation, the health system announced. Of note, the ACOs realized the greatest taxpayer savings in Illinois and the second highest in Wisconsin.