Lawmakers Urge CMS to Modify Final Medicare ACO Regulation

A bipartisan group of nine lawmakers today sent a letter to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) Administrator Seema Verma asking for two key changes to the agency’s recently proposed rule that would reform the Medicare Shared Savings Program (MSSP).

Specifically, the lawmakers asked that CMS reconsider proposals to cut the time new accountable care organizations (ACOs) have in shared savings-only models from six years to two and to decrease the shared savings rate from 50 percent to as low as 25 percent.

Lawmakers on the list include Reps. Diane Black (R-Tenn.), Peter Welch (D-Vt.), Suzan DelBene (D-Wash.), Gene Green (D-Texas), David Roe, M.D. (R-Tenn.), Greg Gianforte (R-Mont.), Tom Reed (R-N.Y.), Brad Wenstrup, M.D. (R-Ohio), and Roger Marshall, M.D. (R-Kans.).

In August, CMS proposed sweeping changes to the MSSP, by far the largest federal ACO model, with 561 participants. At the center of the proposed rule, called “Pathways to Success,” is a core belief that ACOs (accountable care organizations) ought to move more quickly into two-sided risk payment models so that Medicare isn’t on the hook for money if the ACO outspends its financial benchmarks.

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