National Rural Accountable Care Consortium Assists Thirty Rural Health Systems Participating in Six ACO's in Nine States in 2015
Rural Providers see Medicare Shared Savings Program as Means to Better Serve Community
NEVADA CITY, Calif., Jan. 7, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- The National Rural Accountable Care Consortium announced today it has successfully formed five additional ACO's in 2015 for rural providers following in the steps of the first ACO started in 2014. Using the Consortium's unique collaborative model, fifty-two entities, including 28 rural and critical access hospitals, 42 rural health clinics, 12 federally qualified health centers and 9 private physician practices in thirty rural health systems were able to afford and qualify for the Medicare Shared Savings Program. More than 65,000 attributed Medicare beneficiaries from the states of Texas, California, Washington, Iowa, Indiana, Missouri, Oregon, Illinois and Michigan are now benefitting from the program under the care of 1,300 clinicians.
Photo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20150107/167614LOGO
The Consortium's newest ACO's are:
- National Rural ACO
- Reid ACO, Suburban Health ACO
- American Rural ACO
- Northwest Rural ACO
- National Rural ACO II
In almost all cases, the rural hospital sponsored the program and invited local providers to join at no charge. Although annual revenue for the hospitals ranged from $5 million to $758 million per year, and they all included employed or contracted physicians, only one applicant had enough beneficiaries to form its own ACO. All of the others joined forces to achieve the minimum number of beneficiaries and to reduce the cost of participation in proportion to what rural providers can expect to earn from the program.
The Consortium provides comprehensive services including claims data access and analysis, evidence-based medicine leadership, care coordination coaching and the governance, legal and compliance services needed to succeed.
"The Consortium's unique model of collaboration is the first of its kind to enable rural providers to receive higher reimbursement for improving the care they deliver," said Tim Putnam, CEO of Margaret Mary Hospital and chair of the board for the first National Rural ACO. "We can access the same type of powerful data, waivers and programs that urban ACO's can for about the same cost as it would be to hire one person to figure out how to get into the program."
Rural Health Summit on February 2 to focus on ACO's and Grant Funding
CMS has pledged hundreds of millions of dollars to support rural providers to prepare for and join ACO's this year. To help educate providers the consortium will sponsor a Webinar on January 21 at 2:00 PM EST and a free educational Summit on February 2nd, 2015 in Washington DC as a prelude to the National Rural Health Association's Policy Institute. For more information please visit www.nationalruralaco.com.
ABOUT THE NATIONAL RURAL ACCOUNTABLE CARE CONSORTIUM
The Consortium is an affiliation of rural providers who are moving toward new models of care delivery that implement coordinated, patient-centered care to improve the quality of life for their community and reduces avoidable healthcare spending. It provides educational resources and learning networks for existing ACOs and future ACO applicants. Membership is open to all interested parties, at no cost or obligation. To learn more about the Consortium visit www.NationalRuralACO.com.
MEDIA CONTACT:
Lynn Barr, MPH
Founder
National Rural Accountable Care Consortium
925-876-5315
Email
OR
Dianne Newton-Shaw
510-835-7900, ext 206
Email
SOURCE National Rural Accountable Care Consortium
Related Links
http://www.nationalruralaco.com
WANT YOUR COMPANY'S NEWS FEATURED ON PRNEWSWIRE.COM?
Newsrooms &
Influencers
Digital Media
Outlets
Journalists
Opted In
Share this article