The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) recently confirmed quality and financial performance results for the 2016 performance year for the Medicare Shared Savings Program (MSSP) Accountable Care Organizations (ACOs). The CHESS MSSP, LLC ACO (CHESS MSSP) saved $6.1 million in 2016, while achieving an overall quality score of 96.48 percent. CHESS MSSP is comprised of Appalachian Regional Medical Associates, Inc., Charles A. Cannon, Jr. Memorial Hospital, Inc., Catawba Valley Medical Group, Inc., Watauga Medical Center, Inc., and Wake Forest University Health Sciences. This was the third year of CHESS MSSP’s participation in a MSSP ACO.
Overall nationally, the 2016 MSSP participants earned performance payments totaling more than $700 million. These results demonstrate that physicians, hospitals, and health care providers participating in ACOs continue to make significant improvements in the quality of care for Medicare beneficiaries, while achieving cost savings.
Medicare Shared Savings Program ACOs are groups of doctors, hospitals, and other health care providers, who voluntarily collaborate to provide coordinated high quality care to their Medicare beneficiaries. The goal of coordinated care is to ensure that beneficiaries, especially the chronically ill, get the right care at the right time, while avoiding unnecessary duplication of services and preventing medical errors.