Premier Joins 11 Organizations in Urging More Flexibility for Medicare ACO Benchmarking Given Pandemic Impact

Premier joined 11 organizations in urging the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) to give Medicare Shared Savings Program (MSSP) accountable care organizations (ACOs) an option to use pre-pandemic years to set their benchmarks. In a letter to CMS, the organization warn CMS that the combination of the highly unusual circumstances of the pandemic and CMS’ current policy for setting benchmarks or financial spending targets will disadvantage 45 percent of ACOs set to re-enter a new MSSP contracting in 2022. Granting ACOs greater flexibility will ensure fair targets for measuring accountability and a chance at earning savings to reinvest in care improvements.