Medicare Shared Savings Program ACOs generated a record $1.2 billion in net savings for the Medicare program across 541 ACOs in 2019, CMS Administrator Seema Verma announced Sept. 14 in Health Affairs.
The 2019 data includes the first six months of performance for ACOs that participated in the agency's new Pathways to Success program, an MSSP overhaul that began in July 2019. ACOs in the Pathways to Success program performed better than legacy ACOs, seeing net per-beneficiary savings of $169 compared to $106 for legacy ACOs, according to Ms. Verma.
Currently, more than 11.2 million fee-for-service Medicare beneficiaries are served by providers in ACOs, and see lower post-acute spending, hospitalizations and emergency department visits.
Here are the top 10 ACOs for total earned shared savings in 2019. The total is the addition of earned shared savings presented in two datasets: one for ACOs who started in the new program in July 2019, and another for ACOs with a program start date of Jan. 1, 2019.
1. Palm Beach Accountable Care Organization (Palm Springs, Fla.) — $48.7 million
2. Millennium Accountable Care Organization (Fort Myers, Fla.) — $41.9 million
3. Baylor Scott & White Quality Alliance (Dallas) — $34.3 million
4. Federation ACO (Portage, Mich.) — $33.5 million
5. Central Oregon ACO, doing business as Caravan Collaborative ACO 17 (Bend) — $32.9 million
6. Mercy Health ACO (St. Louis) — $24.2 million
7. Silver State ACO (Las Vegas) — $23.4 million
8. Advocate Physician Partners Accountable Care (Rolling Meadows, Ill.) — $22.7 million
9. Accountable Care Organization of Aurora/ Aurora Accountable Care Organization (Milwaukee) — $19.5 million
10. LTC ACO (Kennett Square, Pa.) — $18.8 million
Editor's note: This article was updated Sept. 15 at 11:29 ET to include figures from both datasets. Figures are rounded to the nearest hundred thousand. ACOs share in savings by meeting a quality performance standard and saving at a rate equal to or greater than a minimum benchmark. Total earned shared savings are adjusted for quality performance.