NYC Health + Hospitals' ACO Is Only One in the State and among Few across the Nation to Earn Medicare Shared Savings for Five Consecutive Years
Public Health System's Accountable Care Organization among Top Performing for Reducing Avoidable Costs While Maintaining High-Quality Standards of Care for Patients
Sep 05, 2018
NYC Health + Hospitals announced today that its Accountable Care Organization (ACO)—a group of doctors and other providers who coordinate care for patients under the Medicare Shared Savings Program (MSSP)—will earn more than $2 million from the federal government for reducing costs and meeting high standards of quality care for patients.
These results mark the fifth consecutive year that the public health system’s ACO has achieved savings and outstanding quality performance by improving care coordination in the primary care setting and preventing unnecessary emergency department visits, avoidable hospitalizations, and other high-cost care for the more than 10,000 Medicare fee-for-service patients who are served through the program. HHC ACO, Inc., is the only MSSP ACO based in New York State to earn shared savings for five consecutive years and one of only 21 ACOs around the country to have earned that distinction.“Our ACO’s performance reflects better care for our patients—and is directly attributable to the hard work of our frontline clinicians,” said Dave Chokshi, MD, CEO of the ACO and NYC Health + Hospitals Chief Population Health Officer. “These results are evidence that successful implementation of value-based care is possible in the largest public health care system in the country.”
The ACO saved the Medicare program $5.27 million in 2017 and earned $2.18 million in shared savings for the public health system. Since 2013, the ACO has saved the Medicare program over $37 million, resulting in savings of over $16 million for NYC Health + Hospitals and its external partners.
Shared savings are awarded only if standards of quality performance are met, and the ACO recorded a score of 84 percent, maintaining its record of consistently strong performance in preventative health measures, including screening patients for depression, helping patients quit smoking, and using aspirin to reduce the incidence of ischemic vascular disease (plaque buildup in the arteries).
The federal Medicare Shared Savings Program was created to change the payment structure for the Medicare fee-for-service beneficiary population. It holds participants accountable for the cost and quality of care delivered to a defined patient population over time.