News
Keep up to date with our latest projects and reports
CMS releases initial findings from L&M evaluation of Innovation Center ACO initiatives
On Jan. 30, 2014, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) released initial evaluation findings from its Center for Medicare & Medicaid Innovation (CMMI) Medicare Pioneer Accountable Care Organization (ACO) initiative. These findings come from the mixed-methods evaluation L&M Policy Research (L&M) is conducting on behalf of CMS.
In their first performance year (CY 2012), eight of the 32 Pioneer ACOs participating in the program showed statistically significant savings relative to their respective fee-for-service markets; one Pioneer ACO had statistically significant losses. The net savings from these Pioneer ACOs amounted to approximately $147 million for the Medicare program.
The savings represent a “strong start,” the CMS press release said. CMS contracted L&M and its subcontractors – Abt Associates, Avalere Health, Social & Scientific Systems, and Truven Health Analytics – in 2012 to conduct its evaluation of the CMMI ACO Initiatives.
The evaluation examines the extent to which the Pioneer ACO Model and the Advance Payment Medicare Shared Savings Program (MSSP) ACO Model achieve improvements in population health, enhance patient experiences and care quality, and control the costs of providing care to Medicare beneficiaries. As part of the evaluation, L&M and its partners are conducting quarterly assessment interviews, site visits, surveys and focus groups, analyses of Pioneer learning activities, and secondary data analyses.
To read L&M’s report on early results from our evaluation of the Pioneer ACOs,click here.
To view HHS’ official ACO press release, click here.
