Providers seek more incentives in ACO REACH to target highly underserved areas

But some providers say the Biden administration isn’t offering enough financial incentives for them to fully reach patients in extremely underserved communities.

This year is the first performance period for the ACO REACH model, which lets providers take on more financial risk for meeting a quality and spending benchmark. Each of the 132 participants must create and implement a health equity plan that identifies disparities in care among its patient population. The benchmark targets will be adjusted based on how well the provider mitigates these disparities.

“We want to be in these underserved communities because...