August 25, 2021 – Twelve leading healthcare organizations are asking Congress to include a bipartisan House bill that will accelerate Medicare’s move to value-based payment in the upcoming reconciliation bill.
In a letter to Senate Finance Committee Chair Ron Wyden and House Ways and Means Committee Chair Richard Neal, the groups pointed to a recent, independent, NAACOS-commissioned analysis by the Moran Company that shows the Value in Health Care Act (H.R. 4587) would save $280 million over 10 years.
The groups says that the bill would strengthen the Medicare Shared Savings Program by updating the program to recognize and reward ACOs.
Specifically, the bill would:
- Increase shared savings rates
- Update risk adjustment rules
- Eliminate the artificial distinction between “high” and “low” revenue ACOs
- Address ACOs’ “rural glitch”
- Restart the ACO Investment Model.
- Extend the 5% Advanced Alternate Payment Model (APM) incentive payments for an additional six years and authorize a study of the overlap of various Medicare APMs in order to reinforce the shift to value-based care.
- Mandate a report by the Government Accountability Office on health outcomes and racial disparities in Medicare patients cared for by ACO participants compared to traditional Medicare and Medicare Advantage
The Value Act was introduced last month by Reps. Peter Welch (D-Vt.), Suzan DelBene (D-Wash.), Darin LaHood (R-Ill.), and Brad Wenstrup (R-Ohio) and 14 national health stakeholder groups have pledged their support of the bill.