June 3, 2021 – The National Association of Accountable Care Organizations (NAACOS) is asking new Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) Administrator Chiquita Brooks-LaSure for more time for providers to apply to the Medicare Shared Savings Program (MSSP), Medicare’s largest and most successful value-based payment program.
In the letter, NAACOS notes that CMS asks ACOs for critical information like lists of participant providers far sooner in the calendar year than it has historically required. The application window this year is set to close on June 28, when in the past, it closed in late July or early August.
NAACOS says that the agency has also granted short windows in which to file critical information. For example, CMS grants ACOs a week to submit notice of intent to apply (NOIA) letters, which are required to be eligible to apply later, when ACOs had as much as two-to-four weeks in the past.
The group says that it fears that without additional time, participation will suffer in a program that is already operating under declining participation.
“With the 2020 application period canceled because of the COVID-19 pandemic, doctors, hospitals, and other providers are eager to apply to participate in Medicare ACO programs,” the group said.
“Serving 11.2 million seniors in 2019, the MSSP saved Medicare $2.6 billion and $1.2 billion after accounting for shared savings bonuses and collecting shared loss payments. Since 2012, ACOs, including those in the MSSP and Next Generation ACO Model, along with a now expired Pioneer ACO Model, have saved Medicare $8.5 billion and $2.5 billion after accounting for shared savings payments, shared loss payments,” the group says.