Medicare’s Coordinated Care Program Saves Money Medicare Resource Center

Medicare s Coordinated Care Program Saves Big Bucks Report Says

Researchers say it improves the quality of patient care while cutting costs

Phil Leo/Michael Denora/Getty Images 9.7 million patients participated in the shared-savings program in the three years studied. Most participants in Medicare’s shared-savings program for have saved money in the first three years of the program, resulting in nearly $1 billion in cost reductions, according to a study by the inspector general of the Department of Health and Human Services. ACOs, an outgrowth of the , are groups of doctors, hospitals and other providers who coordinate services to maximize quality care without duplication and to minimize medical errors. AARP Membership: A total of 428 ACOs serving 9.7 million patients participated in the shared-savings program in the three years studied. About two-thirds of all ACOs showed at least one year of cost savings. Besides the savings, the high-performing ACOs also improved performance on 82 percent of individual quality measures outlined in ACO guidelines. They also outperformed traditional fee-for-service providers on 81 percent of those measures. A few high-performing ACOs produced "substantial" savings, the report found, reducing spending by $673 per beneficiary for key services. As an incentive for reducing costs, ACOs share in Medicare’s overall savings. The report bolsters evidence that although ACOs do not uniformly perform well, in general they are improving care, David Muehlstein, chief research officer at Leavitt Partners, told the journal Modern Healthcare. "It's not just about getting paid differently," he told the journal. "It's about providing care differently, and it takes time." Of the 428 ACOs studied, 36 dropped out, but the overall number of ACOs grew substantially from 220 in 2013 to 392 in 2015.

More on Medicare

NEED HELP?: QUIZ: Cancel You are leaving AARP.org and going to the website of our trusted provider. The provider’s terms, conditions and policies apply. Please return to AARP.org to learn more about other benefits. Your email address is now confirmed. You'll start receiving the latest news, benefits, events, and programs related to AARP's mission to empower people to choose how they live as they age. You can also by updating your account at anytime. You will be asked to register or log in. Cancel Offer Details Disclosures

Close In the next 24 hours, you will receive an email to confirm your subscription to receive emails related to AARP volunteering. Once you confirm that subscription, you will regularly receive communications related to AARP volunteering. In the meantime, please feel free to search for ways to make a difference in your community at Javascript must be enabled to use this site. Please enable Javascript in your browser and try again.