Four more drop out of Pioneer ACO program

Four more healthcare organizations are quitting Medicare’s Pioneer Accountable Care Organization program, reports several news sources.

This latest loss means that of the original 32 participants, only 19 remain.

The Pioneer ACO Model was launched in 2012 to test whether ACOs can succeed in payment arrangements that include higher levels of risk and reward than in the Medicare Shared Savings Program. ACOs are held financially accountable for the care delivered to their patients, as well as measurable outcomes for these individuals.

ACOs that have left the program include Genesys PHO of Flint, Mich., Franciscan Alliance of central Indiana, Renaissance Health Network of Pennsylvania and Sharp Healthcare of San Diego, reports the Wall Street Journal. The newspaper reported that these organizations felt the program was overly stringent and that the benchmarks were too difficult to achieve.

Last year, Pioneer ACOs generated a total savings of more than $96 million and at the same time qualified for shared savings payments of $68 million. In all, 11 Pioneer ACOs earned shared savings, but three generated shared losses and three elected to defer reconciliation until after the completion of performance year three, according to a Sept. 16 Center for Medicare & Medicaid Services press release.