A Framework For Understanding ‘Savings’ From Accountable Care Organizations

The release of the Office of the Inspector General’s (OIG) report on the savings resulting from the Medicare Shared Savings Program’s (MSSP) ACOs has rekindled the debate about the success of ACOs and their viability as a means to curb health care spending growth. This is an important debate, but clarity requires addressing crucial conceptual and semantic questions about the meaning of “savings.”

ACO News is a feature of the Medicaid Accountable Care Organization Resource Center, an online collection of tools designed to help Medicaid agencies develop and launch accountable care organizations.