Medicare's Pioneer accountable care organization pilot program now dwindles to just 16 participants from the original 32, following the drop out of two more Boston-based ACOs: Steward Promise and Mount Auburn Cambridge Independent Practice Association, according to The Boston Globe.
Here are four things to know about the ACOs' choice to drop the program, according to the report.
1. Steward and Mount Auburn both plan to join the new Next Generation ACO model, according to the report. The new model launches in 2016.
2. The Mount Auburn ACO, run by physicians from Mount Auburn Cambridge IPA and Mount Auburn Hospital, saved roughly $14 million over its three-year tenure in the Pioneer Program, according to the report. However, the IPA's president, Barbara Spivak, MD, told The Globe the ACO expected to lose money as the program changed its financial benchmarks.
3. Steward Promise, part of Steward Health Care, saved $30 million, according to the report, but also feels conditions under the Next Generation pilot will be more favorable. It is leaving the Pioneer Program so it can participate in the Next Generation model.
4. Lebanon, N.H.-based Dartmouth-Hitchcock also recently pulled out of the Pioneer Program in favor of the Next Generation pilot. Three Massachusetts-based health systems plan to continue in the Pioneer Program as of now, according to The Boston Globe. These systems include Boston-based Partners HealthCare, Boston-based Beth Israel Deaconess Care Organization and Newton, Mass.-based Atrius Health.
Editor's note: This article incorrectly stated both ACOs are leaving the program due to financial reasons. Steward is not leaving the program due to financial reasons; it is leaving so it can participate in the Next Generation model. We regret this error.
More articles on accountable care:
9 accountable care, shared savings agreements in October
CMS issues final rule for ACO fraud, abuse waivers
What do ACOs need to succeed? Q&A with Medullan's Dutch Dwight on making accountable care feasible