Richmond, VA - Virginia Care Partners ACO, LLC improved care for 22,000 Medicare beneficiaries in the Richmond and Tri-Cities region and celebrates $3.3M in shared savings with a quality score of 98.4% achieved by meeting goals set forth by the Medical Shared Savings Program (MSSP) for the 2020 performance measurement year, despite disruptions in care presented by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Virginia Care Partners ACO, LLC (VCP) earned a quality score of 98.4% by meeting performance measures ranging from preventive health checks to the use of computerized health records and preventing avoidable hospitalizations, Medicare data shows. An $8.6M gross savings to Medicare provided the basis for the shared savings payment of $3.3M to VCP. This success is a direct reflection of the commitment of VCP’s expansive network of physicians to focus on patient needs and to invest in care coordination, technology, and other care improvement initiatives. The VCP ACO includes the HCA Primary Health Group and 50 independent primary care providers who serve the Central Virginia community.
“When local physicians work together through an ACO to focus on the needs of their population and invest in care coordination, information technology and innovative initiatives, we’ve seen substantial improvements both in the delivery of care and in reducing costs,” said Gerard Filicko, Executive Director. “The VCP network is measurably improving outcomes, saving money, maintaining patient choice, and helping our physician members transform the way they work with each other and with patients.”
For example, Virginia Care Partners’ providers work to increase the number of Medicare beneficiaries taking advantage of annual wellness visits, including recommended screenings and preventive care. The ACO also focuses on ensuring smooth patient transitions from the hospital to home. All ACO providers receive detailed information about their performance on quality measures, using a proprietary analytics platform built by VCP in partnership with Optum.
“Our HCA Value Based Entities Analytics (VBE) team has been able to deliver deeper insights into disease management of this population to not only identify opportunities for care improvement but also utilizing that data to take action in a preventative and post-acute arena.” Said HCA’s Jeramey Ward, Director of Analytics: VBE. “The power of our analytics, dashboards, and ability to identify opportunities for improved health outcomes in chronic care management, close care gaps, and preventable hospital readmissions and avoidable trips to the ER sets VCP apart from others in the ACO space.”
Since its inception in July of 2019, Virginia Care Partners ACO, LLC has saved the Medicare program over $14M across 22,000 patients, granting the organization “exceptional performers” status nationally. In its first year of existence and first measurement period as an accredited Affordable Care Organization (ACO), VCP’s ACO received $1.1M in shared savings with a quality score of 100%.
In 2020 nationally, 513 ACOs caring for 10.6 million beneficiaries participated in MSSP, generating gross savings of $4.1 billion, according to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. After accounting for shared savings earned by ACOs in 2020, estimated net Medicare savings were $1.9 billion.
A fact sheet with more information about MSSP ACOs is available online, along with other resources — What is an ACO? — and the ABCs of ACOs.