Trinity Health ACO Achieves $8.4 Million in Shared Savings

Trinity Health ACO, Inc., achieved $8.4 million in shared savings in performance year 2017 as part of the Next Generation Accountable Care Organization (ACO) Model created by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS). CMS's recent confirmation of quality and financial performance results for Next Generation ACOs additionally revealed that Trinity Health ACO achieved a 96.04 percent quality performance score overall.

"The providers working to increase the quality of care — and the quality of the patient experience — in Trinity Health ACO are compassionate and people-centered, and we are grateful to them for their efforts under this innovative program," said Dan Roth, M.D., EVP and chief clinical officer for Trinity Health. "Trinity Health ACO achieved a savings more than 29 percent higher than in the previous performance year, and I consider this jump an important indicator of both our providers' dedication and the effectiveness of the Model."

The Next Generation ACO Model is currently in its third year. It sets predictable financial targets, gives beneficiaries more opportunities to manage their own health, and enables providers to better coordinate care across health systems. In these ways and more, it strives to attain the highest quality standards of care for Medicare recipients.

Trinity Health ACO, one of only 51 Next Generation ACOs in the nation, provides coordinated care to patients in Illinois (Loyola Medicine), Michigan (Mercy Health – Michigan), New Jersey (Our Lady of Lourdes Health Care Services and Summit Medical Group) and Ohio (Mount Carmel Health System). When it launched, its patients experienced no change in their original Medicare benefits and retained their freedom to see any Medicare provider. In order to share the savings it achieves for the Medicare program, it is required to succeed in both delivering high-quality care and spending health care dollars more wisely.

Next Generation ACOs keep proving themselves good choices for all stakeholders," said Roth. "We are proud that Trinity Health ACO has improved the value of care for the 85,329 beneficiaries to whom it is accountable and that it is setting such a strong example for others who might want to join with CMS in transforming the care experience and health."

Next Generation ACOs like Trinity Health ACO are patient-centered organizations in which providers have access to better information about their patients' medical histories and better relationships with their patients' other providers. They often also offer expanded benefits, which may include telehealth benefits and/or waiver of the three-day skilled nursing facility (SNF) rule. This waiver allows eligible patients, whose doctors participate in the Next Generation ACO Model, to be admitted to a SNF directly from their home or a doctor’s office, or from a hospital if they have fewer than three consecutive inpatient days in the hospital.

Participation in Next Generation ACOs is voluntary for providers who — when part of the Model — are payed based on the quality, rather than quantity, of care they provide to patients.

For more information on the Next Generation ACO Model, please visit the Next Generation ACO Model web page. For more information on Trinity Health ACO, visit www.trinityhealthaco.org.