Medicare Shared Savings Programs Accountable Care Organization (ACO)

Many Partners HealthCare-affiliated providers are participating in a care coordination program called the Medicare Shared Savings Program (MSSP), designed specifically for Medicare patients and sponsored by Medicare. The program is committed to achieving better health outcomes for individuals, better population health, and lowering growth in expenditures.

Like other Accountable Care Organization (ACO) models, the Medicare Shared Savings Program rewards ACOs that lower growth in health care costs while meeting performance standards on the quality of care. The Medicare Shared Savings Program is an important innovation for moving CMS' payment system away from volume and toward value and outcomes. It is an alternative payment model that:

• Coordinates items and services for Medicare fee-for-service (FFS) beneficiaries.
• Encourages investment in high quality and efficient services.
• Promotes accountability for a patient population

As part of the Partners HealthCare Medicare Accountable Care Organization, your provider may be participating in this program. Our providers participating in the MSSP ACO are affiliated with Brigham and Women's Hospital, Massachusetts General Hospital (including Nantucket Cottage Hospital and Martha’s Vineyard Hospital), Newton-Wellesley Hospital, North Shore Medical Center, Cooley Dickinson Hospital, Emerson Hospital, Pentucket Medical Associates, Milford Regional Physicians Group, Wentworth-Douglass Hospital, and Charles River Medical Associates.

For questions on Medicare benefits, please call Medicare at 1-800-MEDICARE (1-800-633-4227).

For questions about the Partners Medicare ACO, please call the Partners HealthCare Medicare ACO Hotline at 1-800-229-0384.

Your Medicare Benefits

If your Partners affiliated provider is a part of the MSSP ACO your benefits are not changing with this new program. This is not a Medicare Advantage plan or an HMO. Your health coverage, premiums and insurance arrangements are unaffected. You do not need to do anything or change your doctor. You can continue to see the same providers you normally do. And you are always free to choose any doctor or hospital who accepts Medicare at any time. Your primary care physician may continue to recommend that you see particular doctors for your specific health needs, but it’s always your choice of what doctors you use or hospitals you visit. 

You may be eligible for a waiver that allows Partners ACO providers to send patients directly to nursing facilities from an emergency room, a primary care physician’s office, or other setting, therefore avoiding unnecessary and preventable hospitalizations. This program is only for Medicare patients in the Partners ACO who meet certain clinical guidelines.You may be eligible for a waiver that allows Partners ACO providers to send patients directly to nursing facilities from an emergency room, a primary care physician’s office, or other setting, therefore avoiding unnecessary and preventable hospitalizations. This program is only for Medicare patients in the Partners ACO who meet certain clinical guidelines.

Medicare Shared Savings Program (MSSP) ACO Public Reporting

Medicare Shared Savings Program (MSSP) ACO Provider List

A History of ACO Success

Partners participated in the Next Generation ACO in 2017 and 2018, which succeeded the first Medicare ACO program called the Pioneer ACO. Partners was one of the first Pioneer ACOs in the country and has seven years’ experience managing populations of patients in an ACO. Partners generated $36.7 million in cost savings for the federally funded program between 2012 and 2016. With an overall quality score of 100% in 2017, Partners is among the best ACOs in the nation for delivering high-quality care. Click here to read more about Partners history of success.