ACO Savings Meager (And They May Not Be Real)
CMS is touting savings in its Accountable Care Organization pilot programs. But it’s not answering questions, and the reason is apparently because the real story is not good. Kaiser Health News reports:
[According to David Muhlestein of the consulting firm Leavitt Partners] today’s news is actually “a net negative.” That’s because the savings, when averaged over the approximately 1.6 million lives covered by those ACOs, were only about $80 per person for the year, or a little less than 1 percent of spending.
“It’s not insignificant, but it’s not what you’d consider a huge success,” Muhlestein said. He adds that it’s unclear whether the savings covered the cost of the ACOs’ initial investment in information technology, nurse care coordinators, and any other upfront costs to become an ACO.
He adds that it’s unclear whether the savings covered the cost of the ACOs’ initial investment in information technology, nurse care coordinators, and any other upfront costs to become an ACO.
Hah! So probably no savings at all, if that’s the case.
odds are no.
It appears that there isnt
The ability to resit risks is near zero..
The ability to resist risks is near zero.
“He adds that it’s unclear whether the savings covered the cost of the ACOs’ initial investment in information technology, nurse care coordinators, and any other upfront costs to become an ACO”
Looks like it is unable to make ends meet.
“That’s because the savings, when averaged over the approximately 1.6 million lives covered by those ACOs, were only about $80 per person for the year, or a little less than 1 percent of spending.”
That is not nearly enough
In all fairness, it’s probably too early to judge these entities. However, if you look at the example of Montefiore, they are continuing a process they have honed over many years. This means that startups will either have to figure it out quickly, or become another failure in the system.
What remanins to be seen is if we’re trading “overdoing” for “underdoing” medicine.
All we can do is wait
Isn’t it kind of early to make these kind of declarations? Savings, no savings…seems like we should wait
Not when dealing with the unreliable government
I’m sorry but 1% is in no way a good enough number
That’s because the savings, when averaged over the approximately 1.6 million lives covered by those ACOs, were only about $80 per person for the year, or a little less than 1 percent of spending.
Hey, $80 back in your pocket is better than $0 back in your pocket.
But compared to the cost of health care? It might as well be $0
But like he said; not insignificant
Besides, if we waited for the government to report huge success we’d never hear from them.
We would forget they even existed