National ACO Association Weighs In On Sector Performance

by Gregg A. Masters, MPH Amidst the aggressive assault on the Affordable Care Act (ACA) via an unrelenting but unsuccessful ‘repeal and replace‘ agenda, much conversation and debate in the health reform theater since Donald Trump was elected the 45th President of the United States has witnessed considerable speculation about the probable directional vector(s) of reform. …

On ACOs and their ‘Stealth’ Upside via @Farzad_MD CEO @AledadeACO

by Gregg A. Masters, MPH For those of you not on twitter and not following the former National Coordinator for HealthIT and now co-founder and CEO of ACO ‘Management Company’ Aledade, Farzad Mostashari, MD, I’m pasting his rich thread on ACOs and the prospects for its near term future as a tool in the healthcare …

Founder and CEO of ACO Management Company Weighs in on Regulatory Uncertainty

by Gregg A. Masters, MPH It’s been a while since my last post. I hope everyone is enjoying their summer. In California we’re dealing with very serious wildfire threat. Please hold space in your thoughts and prayers for all of those in harms way – especially the first responders putting their lives on the line …

Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services Releases Accountable Care Organization Performance Results

by Gregg A. Masters, MPH Friday, October 27th, the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) released details for participating Accountable Care Organizations (ACOs) in the Medicare Shared Savings Program (MSSP) for the 2016 performance year.  For reporting ACO results view the entire report here. The National Association of ACOs (NAACOs) weighed in below: The new results …

ACOs Fudging the Numbers?

by Gregg A. Masters, MPH I came across this piece on the Healthcare Blog penned by Kip Sullivan, Esq, critiquing this article posted in Health Affairs last May ‘Bending The Spending Curve By Altering Care Delivery Patterns: The Role Of Care Management Within A Pioneer ACO‘. Sullivan raises valid points as the the legitimacy of …

Tufts Health Plan Forms MassHealth Accountable Care Organization Partnership with Four Provider Organizations

Press Release | Watertown, MA | August 18, 2017  The Massachusetts Executive Office of Health and Human Services (EOHHS) recently announced that Tufts Health Plan has signed contracts to form Medicaid (MassHealth) Accountable Care Organization (ACO) partnerships with four provider organizations:  Atrius Health, Beth Israel Deaconess Care Organization, Cambridge Health Alliance, and Boston Children’s Accountable Care Organization. The new ACOs feature a value‐based …

CBO Weighs in on Trumpcare 3.0

by Gregg A. Masters, MPH The non-partisan Congressional Office weighed in today on the impact of the Better Care Reconciliation of of 2017 as amended and rebranded as the ‘Obamacare Repeal Reconciliation Act’. Their summary notes the coverage impact as follows: The number of people who are uninsured would increase by 17 million in 2018, …

Senate GOP Health Reform Fail: Many Knew This Day Was Coming

by Gregg A. Masters, MPH Unlike many in the conversation on social media including the likes of Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and blogs such as ACO Watch, I have been active in the health reform exchange of ideas since registering my twitter handle @2healthguru in August of 2008. My participation has been of the ‘sweat equity’ …

What, What? ACOs Not ‘DOA’?

by Gregg A. Masters, MPH When the Affordable Care Act passed in March of 2010 and the law’s many moving parts analyzed by the ecosystem stakeholders including operators, health wonks and patient advocates many weighed in that ACOs were doomed to fail. They were just too ‘tepid’ to make a material contribution to the volume …

Meet the Next Generation ACO Cohort

by Gregg A. Masters, MPH As announced in ‘Next Generation ACOs: A Deep Dive Series‘ we’re launching a multimedia (blog, internet radio, social media and community tweetchats) programming schedule that will focus on the accountable care industry with specific deep dives into select participants in the cohort admitted by the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation. Written versions …