Health Affairs April 9, 2021
The goal of the value movement is to incentivize providers to move away from the traditional fee-for-service model and provide coordinated care for patients with an eye toward improving quality and reducing cost. One key mechanism to achieve this goal is accountable care organization (ACO) models that—because they are offered along a continuum of varying levels of financial risk and reward—allow participants to progressively assume more risk while successfully managing the quality of care for patients.
Medicare is leading the advancement of accountable care, currently operating several different ACO models including various Medicare Shared Saving Program (MSSP) tracks, the Next Generation (“Next Gen”) ACO model, and the Direct Contracting models. Now in its sixth year, the Next Gen ACO...