Thirty-five ACOs participating in the Next Generation ACO model achieved shared savings and received bonus payments in 2019, according to partial 2019 performance data released Jan. 13.
The partial performance data includes financial and quality score data for 37 of the 41 ACOs participating in the Next Gen ACO model. Four participating ACOs deferred financial settlement for the 2019 performance year.
The 37 ACOs participating in the model reduced Medicare spending by $558.6 million in 2019, according to the data, and just two of the 37 failed to meet benchmarks and achieve savings.
Based on the data, the 37 ACOs earned a combined $461.9 million in incentive payments from CMS for meeting financial and quality targets. However, taking into account the unearned quality withholds, CMS will pay $354.5 million to the ACOs.
This means the program resulted in $204 million in direct savings to Medicare after accounting for the incentive payments.
CMS plans to release full performance year results for the 41 participating ACOs by this spring.
In the 2018 performance year, Next Gen ACOs reduced Medicare spending by $406 million in and received $185 million from CMS after shared savings and losses.
The average quality score for the ACOs was 93.7 percent out of 100 percent.