15 new Medicare ACOs getting advance payments

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services yesterday announced that 15 of the 89 new accountable care organizations (ACO) to the Medicare Shared Savings Program also will take part in the Advance Payment Model, aimed at physician-based and rural providers.

The program offers upfront and monthly payments to physician-based and rural providers enrolled in the Shared Savings Program so they can afford to make the needed investments to coordinate care.

Designed for smaller ACOs with less capital, the program aims to attract providers with payments to be repaid in the future, CMS noted in a fact sheet. The Advance Payment Model also tests whether upfront payments will allow ACOs to improve care for beneficiaries and generate more Medicare savings more quickly.

Five of the 89 new ACOs also applied for a version of the program that provides opportunity for a higher share of savings by sharing any losses if costs of care increase, CMS noted in another fact sheet.

Applications for the next round of Advance Payment Model ACOs will open Aug. 1 for a Jan. 1, 2013, start date.

The 15 Advance Payment ACOs are the following:

Northeast (4)

  • Coastal Medical, Inc. - Providence, R.I. (serving Medicare beneficiaries in Massachusetts and Rhode Island)
  • Harbor Medical Associates, PC - South Weymouth, Mass.
  • MPS ACO  Physicians, LLC - Middletown, Conn.
  • PriMed, LLC - Shelton, Conn.

South (10)

  • Accountable Care Partners, LLC - Jacksonville, Fla. (serving Medicare beneficiaries in Florida and Georgia)
  • Cumberland Center for Healthcare Innovation, LLC - Nashville, Tenn.
  • Maryland Accountable Care Organization of Eastern Shore LLC - National Harbor, Md.
  • Maryland Accountable Care Organization of Western MD LLC - National Harbor, Md. (serving Medicare beneficiaries in Maryland, Pennsylvania, and West Virginia)
  • Medical Mall Services of Mississippi - Jackson, Miss.
  • Physicians ACO, LLC – Houston
  • Quality Independent  Physicians - Louisville, Ky. (serving Medicare beneficiaries in Indiana and Kentucky)
  • Reliance Healthcare Management Solutions, LLC - Tampa, Fla.
  • St. Thomas Medical Group PLLC - Nashville, Tenn.
  • Texoma ACO, LLC - Wichita Falls, Texas

West (1)

  • Golden Life Healthcare LLC - Sacramento

To learn more:
- here's the CMS announcement and fact sheet (.pdf)