A proposed regulation from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) would give certain accountable care organizations (ACOs) leeway to move at their own pace in graduating through the different levels of the Medicare Shared Savings Program, and the Texas Medical Association wants to ensure that flexibility sticks.
The Medicare Shared Savings Program allows physicians, hospitals, and others involved in patient care a chance to create an ACO, which then agrees to be held responsible for the quality, cost, and experience of care of an assigned Medicare fee-for-service population, according to CMS.
This alternative payment model offers ACOs different tracks, and the CMS proposal would allow eligible ACOs taking part in CMS’s Basic track the option to graduate to other tracks or to stay at their current level of participation for the performance year 2022.
Some ACOs may want to stay at the current level because the COVID-19 pandemic upset medical practice operations in many cases, and those practices may not be ready to move on to other tracks, says Robert Bennett, vice president of medical economics at TMA.
In a June 25 letter, TMA President E. Linda Villareal, MD, praised CMS for the proposed change to current regulations.
“TMA fully supports allowing ACOs the ability to elect whether or not to change their level of participation,” Dr. Villarreal said. “We appreciate CMS recognizing how the [COVID-19 pandemic] significantly disrupted utilization use, beneficiary assignment, and performance year expenditures.”
For information on joining an ACO through TMA PracticeEdge, visit www.tmapracticeedge.com.
Last Updated On
July 08, 2021
Originally Published On
July 08, 2021