Dive Brief:
- The 2012 group of 114 organizations that joined the Medicare Shared Savings Program saved Medicare $128 million for the Medicare Trust Fund, but only 29 of the group generated enough savings to share them with Medicare. What's more, just 54 of the 114 ACOs saved money during their first 12 months.
- CMS also announced that the remaining 23 Pioneer ACOs generated gross savings of $147 million in the first year.
- Nine of the Pioneers had lower spending growth in Medicare fee-for-service while exceeding quality reporting requirements, according to a CMS news release.
Dive Insight:
While it's good that CMS has seen savings from the Shared Savings Program, particularly in tandem with high-quality care, it's discouraging that many of the ACOs involved didn't produce enough savings to share with Medicare. A "shared savings" program obviously won't work if the shareable dollars never materialize. Let's hope the results are better for 2013.