Parashuram, Shriram, Lee, Woolton, Rowan, Kathleen, Gao, Yue, Ewald, Erin, Chelluri, Devi, Soo, Jackie, Gianattasio, Kan, Xie, Liyang, Brantley, Erin, Dowd, Bryan E., Feldman, Roger, and Lowell, Kristina
The Next Generation Accountable Care Organization (NGACO) model (active during 2016–21) tested the effects of high financial risk, payment mechanisms, and flexible care delivery on health care spending and value for fee-for-service Medicare beneficiaries. We used quasi-experimental methods to examine the model’s effects on Medicare Parts A and B spending. Sixty-two ACOs with more than 4.2 million beneficiaries and more than 91,000 practitioners participated in the model. The model was associated with a $270 per beneficiary per year, or approximately $1.7 billion, decline in Medicare spending. After shared savings payments to ACOs were included, the model increased net Medicare spending by $56 per beneficiary per year, or $96.7 million. Annual declines in spending for the model grew over time, reflecting exit by poorer-performing NGACOs, improvement among the remaining NGACOs, and the COVID-19 pandemic. Larger declines in spending occurred among physician practice ACOs and ACOs that elected population-based payments and risk caps greater than 5 percent.