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Partners HealthCare Transitioning Into Medicare Shared Savings Program

2 minute read

Extending Care to More Patients and Increasing Commitment to Value-based Care

Partners HealthCare is now participating in the Medicare Shared Savings Program (MSSP) through the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS). The MSSP Accountable Care Organization (ACO) allows Partners to extend care to roughly 10,000 additional patients, serving a total of approximately 125,000 Medicare patients; and adds nearly 2,000 additional Partners providers, totaling 9,300 providers supporting the Medicare population. Partners has transitioned to MSSP from its previous Medicare ACO, the Next Generation Accountable Care model, without disruption to patient care. Partners was one of the first Medicare Pioneer ACOs in the country, generating $36.7 million in cost savings for the federally funded program between 2012 and 2016. When CMS phased out the Pioneer ACO Model, Partners converted to the Next Generation ACO.

This evolution of our Medicare ACO represents our ongoing commitment to value-based care, clinical care transformation and care management programs, including high-risk care management, behavioral health integration and an advanced primary care strategy.

Gregg Meyer, MD, MSc
Chief Clinical Officer
Partners HealthCare

In 2017, the first year that Partners HealthCare participated in the Next Generation ACO, the Partners system successfully provided quality care to approximately 88,000 Medicare patients, making it one of the largest Next Generation ACOs in the country.

"We have worked with CMS and Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation (CMMI) over the past several years to help inform and support a transition to value-based care. We look forward to continuing our partnership with CMS and CMMI, as they refine future value-based care models for Medicare patients," said Dellara Terry, MD, Chief Medical Officer for Accountable Care Organizations at Partners HealthCare.

Additionally, Partners has been approved to participate in the three-day skilled nursing facility (SNF) waiver, which waives the Medicare fee-for-service rule requiring a three-day inpatient stay prior to admission to a SNF, allowing Partners to continue this impactful program initiated under the Next Generation ACO.

The new contract went into effect as of July 1, 2019.