Evolving Radiologist Participation in Medicare Shared Savings Program Accountable Care Organizations

Area of Science:

• Health Services Research
• Healthcare Policy
• Radiology Practice Management

Background:

• Accountable Care Organizations (ACOs) aim to improve healthcare quality and reduce costs.
• The Medicare Shared Savings Program (MSSP) is a key initiative for ACO development.
• Understanding physician participation, including radiologists, is crucial for ACO success.

Purpose of the Study:

• To analyze the temporal trends of radiologist participation in MSSP ACOs.
• To characterize the types of ACOs engaging radiologists over time.

Main Methods:

• Utilized Medicare data from 2013-2018, including provider and ACO public-use files.
• Assessed radiologist affiliation with MSSP ACOs based on provider-level data.
• Compared characteristics of ACOs with and without radiologist participation.

Main Results:

• Radiologist affiliation with MSSP ACOs grew from 10.4% in 2013 to 34.9% in 2018.
• Radiologist participation was high in large ACOs (avg. 87.0%) and increased in medium (62.5% to 66.0%) and small ACOs (26.3% to 51.6%).
• ACOs with radiologists were larger, had greater physician diversity, and higher specialist representation compared to those without.

Conclusions:

• Radiologist participation in MSSP ACOs has seen substantial recent growth.
• ACOs actively involving radiologists tend to be larger and exhibit greater specialty diversity.
• Radiologists not yet participating in ACOs should anticipate and prepare for this evolving landscape.