The AAMC and eight other leading health care organizations sent a May 14 letter to Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) Administrator Seema Verma asking for changes to support accountable care organizations (ACOs) during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The groups emphasized the importance of maintaining participation in alternative payment models. Specifically, the groups asked CMS to:
- Address the continued uncertainty presented by the pandemic by giving ACOs an option to be fully protected from losses in exchange for a reduced shared savings rate of no less than 40%.
- Extend the current deadline to voluntarily terminate participation in the Shared Savings Program to no sooner than October 31.
- Reverse its decision to cancel the 2021 Shared Savings Program’s application cycle.
- Pay ACO shared savings payments and advanced alternative payment model bonuses as soon as possible.