Accountable Care Coalition of North Texas: Medicare Shared Savings Program Performance Year 2015 Quality and Financial Results

DALLAS-FORT WORTH METROPLEX, Texas–(BUSINESS WIRE)–The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) announced the 2015
performance year results for the Medicare Shared Savings Program and the
Pioneer Accountable Care Organization Model that show physicians,
hospitals and health care providers participating in Accountable Care
Organizations continue to make significant improvements in the quality
of care for Medicare beneficiaries, while achieving cost savings.

In 2015, Medicare Accountable Care Organizations had combined total
program savings of $466 million, which includes all Accountable Care
Organizations’ experiences, for 392 Medicare Shared Savings Program
participants and 12 Pioneer Accountable Care Organization Model
participants. The results show that more Accountable Care Organizations
shared savings in 2015 compared to 2014, and those with more experience
tend to perform better over time.

Medicare ACOs are groups of doctors, hospitals, and other health care
providers, who come together voluntarily to provide coordinated high
quality care to their Medicare patients. The goal of coordinated care is
to ensure that patients, especially the chronically ill, get the right
care at the right time, while avoiding unnecessary duplication of
services and preventing medical errors. When an ACO exceeds quality and
financial thresholds – demonstrating achievement of high-quality care
and wiser spending of health care dollars – it is able to share in the
savings generated for Medicare.

Accountable Care Coalition of North Texas (ACC North Texas) is one of
the ACOs that shared savings.

Dr. Samuel Lee, ACC North Texas Medical Director, said: “We are grateful
for the opportunity to generate savings for the Medicare Shared Savings
Program for a second consecutive year. In 2015 we helped save $4.7
million for Medicare, a 29% increase over the preceding year. These
results show that our physicians are lowering costs and improving care
by bringing the new paradigm of value-based care directly into the exam
room. Committing ourselves to this paradigm shift has helped lead to a
substantial decrease in avoidable inpatient hospital stays and emergency
room visits for our North Texas Medicare beneficiaries since the launch
of our ACO in January 2013.”

Additional Resources

Visit the Medicare Shared Savings Program News
and Updates webpage to access the CMS press
release and fact
sheet, the link to the Performance
Year 2015 results file, and to learn more about the program.

Contacts

Accountable Care Coalition of North Texas
Sarah Bell, 914-597-2908