Medicare Shared Savings Program saves $2.1 billion in 2023
Accountable care organizations in the Medicare Shared Savings Program earned performance payments totaling $3.1 billion in 2023, the highest since the program's establishment.
CMS has announced that the Medicare Shared Savings Program yielded over $2.1 billion in net savings in 2023, the largest savings in the program's history.
Additionally, MSSP accountable care organizations (ACOs) earned performance payments totaling $3.1 billion in 2023, the highest since the program's establishment more than 10 years ago.
Notably, ACOs led by primary care providers (PCPs) had significantly higher net per capita savings than ACOs with a smaller share of PCPs, underscoring the importance of primary care to the success of the MSSP.
"Accountable care organizations in the Medicare Shared Savings Program continue to deliver high-quality healthcare for people with Medicare and meaningful savings for the Medicare program," Chiquita Brooks-LaSure, CMS administrator, said in the CMS press release.
"CMS continues to improve the Medicare Shared Savings Program for the future so that providers in accountable care organizations are able to deliver coordinated, high-quality, affordable, equitable, person-centered care to people with Medicare," Brooks-LaSure added.
From performance year (PY) 2022 to PY 2023, ACOs' performance improved on quality measures they are required to report for the MSSP.
For example, ACOs saw statistically significant improvements in quality measures related to the following:
Diabetes and blood pressure control.
Breast cancer and colorectal cancer screening.
Screening for future fall risk.
Statin therapy for prevention and treatment of cardiovascular disease.
Depression screening and follow-up.
Improvements in quality performance by ACOs underscore how coordinated, patient-centered care can improve the treatment of common conditions like behavioral health and cancer.
We continue to be encouraged and inspired by seven consecutive years of savings and high-quality care, with 2023 being the strongest year of performance to date.
Meena Seshamani, M.D., Ph.DDeputy administrator and director of the Center for Medicare, CMS
Over the past decade, the MSSP has become one of the largest value-based payment programs in the nation. As of January 2024, there are 480 MSSP ACOs with a total of 608,000 clinicians who provide care to nearly 11 million people with Medicare.
"We continue to be encouraged and inspired by seven consecutive years of savings and high-quality care, with 2023 being the strongest year of performance to date," said Meena Seshamani, M.D., Ph.D., CMS deputy administrator and director of the Center for Medicare.
"We are taking steps to continue to grow this impactful program to ensure those we serve have access to high-quality, affordable health care, no matter where they live," Seshamani added.
ACOs also continued to adopt digital quality measures, with 72 ACOs reporting all payer measures in PY 2023, nearly double the number of ACOs from the previous year.
CMS is helping ACOs overcome barriers to digital quality measurement reporting. For instance, a proposal in the calendar year 2025 Medicare Physician Fee Schedule Proposed Rule aims to create an adjustment to an ACO's quality score to account for the challenges complex organizations face as they switch to digital measures.
Hannah Nelson has been covering news related to health information technology and health data interoperability since 2020.
