Medicare Accountable Care Organizations: program eligibility, beneficiary assignment, and quality measures

Accountable Care Organizations (ACOs) are groups of providers (generally physicians and/or hospitals) that may receive financial rewards by maintaining or improving care quality for a group of patients while reducing the cost of care for those patients. The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2010 (ACA) established a Medicare Shared Savings Program (MSSP) and accompanying Medicare ACOs to “facilitate coordination and cooperation among providers to improve the quality of care for Medicare fee-for-service (FFS) beneficiaries and reduce unnecessary costs.” The MSSP now includes 343 ACOs; an additional 23 ACOs participate in the Medicare Pioneer ACO demonstration program, and there are approximately 240 private ACOs. Based on our analysis, among the Medicare ACOs 119 operate in both rural and urban counties and seven operate exclusively in rural counties. A little over 24 percent of non-metropolitan counties are included in Medicare ACOs. To assist rural providers considering ACO formation, this policy brief describes MSSP eligibility and participation requirements, beneficiary assignment processes, and quality measures.