National Association of ACOs

The proposed 2025 Medicare Physician Fee Schedule rule was released yesterday by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) and includes a number of changes to the #Medicare Shared Savings Program (MSSP). NAACOS appreciates CMS's continued efforts to address the significant anomalous and highly suspect billing activity identified by ACOs in late 2023. Long-term solutions are critical for ensuring stability in the program. Despite a number of positive changes, CMS has yet to address significant issues with MSSP's financial benchmarking policies and quality reporting requirements. NAACOS will continue to advocate for sensible changes that increase participation and create long-term sustainability for the program. Read NAACOS' statement on the rule: https://lnkd.in/dD_ezk6X More information is available in the MSSP fact sheet (https://lnkd.in/enJ4nWt2) and the full rule is available (https://lnkd.in/eGXgUWWc)

Last week, NAACOS' senior vice president of government affairs Aisha T Pittman joined Coral Health Advisors for the Pop Health Podcast to discuss recent congressional interest in #Medicare payment reform and #valuebasedcare, the upcoming Medicare Physician Fee Schedule proposed rule, and what we might see from Congress and CMS in the future. Check it out: https://lnkd.in/gb5pXhBD #populationhealth #healthpolicy #healthcareleadership

Following extensive advocacy from NAACOS and others, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has issued a proposed rule to address anomalous billing in #Medicare ACOs. If finalized, the rule would remove claims from two problematic catheter codes from the Medicare Shared Savings Program's (MSSP) performance year 2023 expenditures. The CMS Innovation Center is expected to take similar steps to address this issue in the ACO REACH Model. We appreciate CMS’s recognition of this critical issue and corrective actions. Read NAACOS' statement on the rule: https://lnkd.in/eVtjDvHQ Proposed rule: https://lnkd.in/ej3w6Krf CMS fact sheet: https://lnkd.in/e4C4PkMg Stakeholder letter to CMS: https://lnkd.in/eQaDA3SA

NAACOS and a dozen other leading #healthcare organizations yesterday shared recommendations for improving physician payment with Congressional leadership, including: United States Senate Committee on Finance - U.S. House Committee on Ways & Means - House Committee on Energy and Commerce The stakeholder urge lawmakers to prioritize measures that advance value-based care in efforts to reform #Medicare's physician payment systems. Key recommendations include: 💵 Extending Advanced alternative payment model (APM) incentive payments to support continued and increased participation in AAPMs 💰 Sustaining physician payment to ensure patients retain access to care and physicians can continue investing in value-based initiatives ✳ Providing more opportunities for physicians and other health care providers to participate in #valuebasedcare Alliance for Value-Based Patient Care American Medical Association Health Care Transformation Task Force America's Physician Groups Premier Inc. Accountable for Health American College of Physicians American Medical Group Association (AMGA) Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC) MGMA National Rural Health Association Partnership to Empower Physician-Led Care @Association for Clinical Oncology

Today NAACOS' Board Member and Policy Committee Chair, Stephen W. Nuckolls testified before the U.S. House Committee on Ways & Means Health Subcommittee during the hearing, "Improving Value-Based Care for Patients and Providers." Mr. Nuckolls emphasized the importance of appropriately designed financial benchmarks and aligned incentives in sustaining the transition to value. "It is critical that we ensure that ACOs have fair and accurate benchmarks so that providers do not have to face the tough decision to leave a program in which they were previously successful. The savings achieved in these models directly impact patient care by expanding care teams, providing additional beneficiary services that are not billed to Medicare, ensuring provider retention with enhanced provider payment, and investing in technology or other services that enable care coordination and population health management." Read the full written statement for the record here: https://lnkd.in/ejDhXsAX We appreciate the Committee's attention to these important issues. Our #healthcare system is in crisis and #valuebasedcare offers opportunities to improve quality of care for patients, reduce total health costs, and better support clinicians in the practice of medicine. You can watch the full hearing here: https://lnkd.in/e_JMuC83

Don’t miss our upcoming webinar, Making Measurement Efficient – Moving to Digital Quality Measurement. This is the first in a 3-part series on digital quality measurement. Featured speakers from the NATIONAL COMMITTEE FOR QUALITY ASSURANCE - NCQA, Epic, and MultiCare Connected Care will unpack the benefits and challenges of moving to a more digital quality measurement and reporting approach. This webinar will focus on the movement to digital quality measurement by the health care industry, including the use of bulk Fast Healthcare Interoperability Resources (#FHIR) for more efficient quality reporting. Speakers will discuss current digital quality measurement approaches and the benefits and challenges of moving to a more digital measurement approach. Date: Monday, July 8 Time: 3:00 - 4:00 PM ET Cost: FREE for value based care providers and NAACOS members Register here: https://lnkd.in/eXGryNTu You must be logged in to register. Contact membership@naacos.com if you do not have an account. Speakers: Amol Vyas, NCQA; Nick Frenzer, Epic; Anna Taylor, MS CIPCT, MultiCare Connected Care; Jennifer Gasperini, National Association of ACOs

Join us for the first in a three-part webinar series on how Artificial Intelligence (AI) is changing healthcare and #valuebasedcare. The first webinar, Artificial Intelligence – Understanding the Regulatory Environment, Payment and CPT Coding, will feature speakers from the American Medical Association, National Association of ACOs, and Hogan Lovells and will discuss the current regulatory environment and payment policies adopted for AI as well as CPT Coding. The webinar will also discuss key compliance issues to consider and how reimbursement policies are developed and may change in the future. Date: Tuesday, July 2 Time: 1:00 - 2:00 PM ET Cost: FREE for value based care providers and NAACOS members Register Here: https://lnkd.in/ea6gCKRH You must be logged in to register. Contact membership@naacos.com if you do not have an account. Speakers: Aisha T Pittman, NAACOS; Cybil Gregory Roehrenbeck, Hogan Lovells; Samantha Ashley and Shannon Curtis, American Medical Association

📣 Reminder - Partner-Led Webinar: Reducing Hospitalizations in Dementia Patients, sponsored by CERESTI HEALTH, this Thursday, June 20! Accountable Care Organizations lack the capabilities to manage the healthcare cost of patients with dementia, a cohort that incurs 27% of all Medicare hospitalizations. These patients are not able to self-manage their health, and are very rarely engaged effectively in traditional care management programs. In this session we will discuss the root causes of avoidable hospitalizations for persons living with dementia. We will summarize learnings from clinical studies of a caregiver enablement program that reduced patient hospitalizations and improved caregiver well-being. In this webinar, you will: ·        Recognize the importance of including the family caregiver in the care team ·        Learn how caregiver enablement differs from traditional caregiver support ·        Discover why including caregiver enablement in your population health strategy can markedly reduce avoidable hospitalizations and overall costs in a largely unengaged population ·  Understand how the addition of caregiver enablement to the new CMS GUIDE model achieves meaningful cost savings for ACOs and risk-bearing entities Date: Thurs. June 20, 2024 from 2:00 - 3:00 PM ET Cost: FREE Register Here: https://lnkd.in/eR8icBVe Speakers: John Mach, CMO, CERESTI HEALTH; Bart Asner, Former CEO/Founder, Monarch HealthCare; Dirk Soenksen, CEO, CERESTI HEALTH; Nicole McPherson, Dir of Coaching Svcs, CERESTI HEALTH

During today's House Committee on Energy and Commerce Health Subcommittee hearing, "Checking-In on CMMI: Assessing the Transition to Value-Based Care," Committee Chair Cathy McMorris Rodgers's opening remarks highlighted the success of ACOs: “Looking at CMMI’s most recent work, I am glad you are continuing to build on the Accountable Care Organization model.     “While joining an ACO should not be the only pathway for providers to be able to participate in value-based care, these models are among the few that have actually managed to reduce overall spending and should not be abandoned." Testimony from Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) deputy administrator and director of the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation (CMMI) Dr. Liz Fowler highlights work the Center is doing to advance #valuebasedcare, support rural and safety net providers, and improve outcomes for #Medicare beneficiaries while controlling health care costs. Watch the hearing here: https://lnkd.in/eEJP2ej4 NAACOS, along with American Medical Association, America's Physician Groups, Health Care Transformation Task Force, and Premier Inc., shared comments in response to the hearing with recommendations to improve CMMI. Read the letter: https://lnkd.in/eCB5YZ9W

📣 Upcoming Partner-Led Webinar: Reducing Hospitalizations in Dementia Patients, sponsored by CERESTI HEALTH Accountable Care Organizations lack the capabilities to manage the healthcare cost of patients with dementia, a cohort that incurs 27% of all Medicare hospitalizations. These patients are not able to self-manage their health, and are very rarely engaged effectively in traditional care management programs. In this session we will discuss the root causes of avoidable hospitalizations for persons living with dementia. We will summarize learnings from clinical studies of a caregiver enablement program that reduced patient hospitalizations and improved caregiver well-being. In this webinar, you will: ·        Recognize the importance of including the family caregiver in the care team ·        Learn how caregiver enablement differs from traditional caregiver support ·        Discover why including caregiver enablement in your population health strategy can markedly reduce avoidable hospitalizations and overall costs in a largely unengaged population ·   Understand how the addition of caregiver enablement to the new CMS GUIDE model achieves meaningful cost savings for ACOs and risk-bearing entities Date: Thurs. June 20, 2024 from 2:00 - 3:00 PM ET Cost: FREE Register Here: https://lnkd.in/eR8icBVe Speakers: John Mach, CMO, CERESTI HEALTH; Bart Asner, Retired Physician; Dirk Soenksen, CEO, CERESTI HEALTH; Nicole McPherson, Dir of Coaching Svcs, CERESTI HEALTH