CMS ACO model prioritizes care coordination for Medicare patients
OLYMPIA, WA.—Northwest Momentum Health Partners has been selected to participate in the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Service’ (CMS’) accountable care organization (ACO) model, Next Generation ACO. The Model, launched in 2016, sets predictable financial targets, enables providers and beneficiaries greater opportunities to coordinate care, and aims to attain the highest quality standards of care.
Through this Model, CMS will collaborate with Northwest Momentum Health Partners and other ACOs across the U.S. experienced in coordinating care for populations of patients and whose provider networks can assume higher levels of financial risk and reward than are available under other models, such as the Pioneer ACO Model and the Medicare Shared Savings Program. The goal of the Model is to test whether strong financial incentives for ACOs, coupled with tools to support better patient engagement and care management, can improve health outcomes and lower expenditures for Original Medicare fee-for-service (FFS) beneficiaries.
This is in accordance with the Department of Health and Human Services’ “Better, Smarter, Healthier” approach to improving our nation’s health care and setting clear, measurable goals and a timeline to move the Medicare program — and the health care system at large — toward paying providers based on the quality rather than the quantity of care they provide to patients.
“Northwest Momentum Health Partners (NWMHP) is pleased to participate as a Next Generation ACO Model,” said Melanie Matthews, CEO of Physicians of Southwest Washington, who will administer the ACO. “We look forward to working with our provider network to deliver better care for their Medicare beneficiaries, better health for our region’s population while aiming to reduce cost of care.”
Twenty-eight ACOs are joining the Model for 2017, bringing the total number of Next Generation ACOs to 45. The Next Generation ACO Model is an Advanced Alternative Payment Model (APM) for CY2017 under the Quality Payment Program established under the Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act of 2015 (MACRA). Eligible clinicians that sufficiently participate in Advanced APMs may qualify for exemption from payment adjustments under the Merit-based Incentive Payment System (MIPS), as well as APM incentive payments available beginning in 2019.
About Northwest Momentum Health Partners
Northwest Momentum Health Partners is a subsidiary LLC established in 2016 by Physicians of Southwest Washington, LLC (PSW). PSW is an independent physician association (IPA) established in 1995 representing a network of more than 400 primary care and consulting specialists as well as local hospitals and ancillary service providers in Thurston County, WA. With a commitment to quality improvement, clinical integration and meaningful measures of value, PSW’s mission is to support the physician-patient relationship in the independent practice of medicine through fair contracting, responsible resource utilization, and prudently adopted innovations in health care delivery.
