Statement on Medicare Shared Savings Program PY 2021 Results

By Seth Edwards, Vice President of Population Health Management Collaboratives, Premier Inc.

Premier congratulates the 475 accountable care organizations (ACOs) in the PY 2021 Medicare Shared Savings Program (MSSP)—including the 61 members of Premier’s Collaborative—for achieving $1.66 billion in savings. For the 7th year, members of the Premier Population Health Management Advanced Collaborative once again outperformed all other ACOs and achieved savings and shared savings at a higher rate than the national average. Given the ongoing challenges with the COVID-19 pandemic, unprecedented margin pressures and record labor shortages, the performance by Premier members is truly remarkable.

The success of the MSSP program year after year solidifies ACOs as an innovation platform, and with additional flexibilities to attract new participants and modify benchmarking, can prove to be even more successful. Premier looks forward to providing detailed recommendations to CMS as part of the CY 2023 Physician Fee Schedule proposed rule on how ACOs can be further streamlined, incentivized and empowered to create a healthcare system that rewards value and wellness.

It is also imperative that CMS consider how competing programs, such as Medicare Advantage, may inhibit ACO growth and limit these successes in the future.

The success of ACOs, however, is also up to Congress which can play a pivotal role in supporting a continued emphasis on movement to value by passing the Value in Health Care Act of 2021 (H.R. 4587). This bill provides incentives to encourage providers to participate in alternate payment models such as ACOs.