NAACOS SPRING 2021 CONFERENCE REGISTRATION OPEN, AGENDA AVAILABLE! Get the best and latest information on ACO policy and practices at the NAACOS Spring 2021 Conference! Along with a keynote by ACO thought leader, Dr. Mark McClellan, a fireside chat with SCAN CEO, Dr. Sachin Jain, and a closing town hall with CMS officials, the conference will feature deep dives into critical issues for ACOs and other value-based payment models. A detailed agenda is now available and will be updated as new speakers are confirmed. This virtual event will take place over two weeks in April with information-filled sessions as well as opportunities to interact with peers and vendors. As in the past, the recordings will be available for you to access for six months post conference. Register before March 31 and receive a discount of $100 per person, only valid on individual registrations.
New for the Spring 2021 Conference is a group rate for ACO members and business partners. Group rates are not available to non-members.
The conference will feature a virtual exhibit hall where attendees may browse products and services online, as well as hold virtual meetings with exhibitors or schedule appointments. These opportunities are reserved for NAACOS for business partners. Reserve your space today!
Sponsorship opportunities granting partners prime visibility and interaction with our ACO and Direct Contracting attendees are also available, but they are going fast! Consider these options, and lock in quickly.
CONGRESS CONSIDERS HHS SECRETARY NOMINATION; OTHER APPOINTMENTS ANNOUNCED The Senate considered the nomination of Xavier Becerra for Secretary of Health & Human Services (HHS) this week. On Tuesday, nominee Becerra testified before the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee. The Senate Finance Committee held a hearing on Becerra’s nomination on Wednesday. The Senate is expected to move quickly to a vote on Becerra’s nomination, although the timing remains unclear.
The Biden administration also released its choices for two other key HHS posts last week. Washington health policy insider Chiquita Brooks-LaSure has been tapped to be the next CMS administrator, pending Senate confirmation. She previously worked as a Democratic staff member for the House Ways and Means Committee during the drafting of the Affordable Care Act. She then served as deputy director for policy at the Center for Consumer Information and Insurance Oversight within CMS, working on ACA implementation. Although her experience is more on the health coverage side, Brooks-LaSure has more than 20 years of experience in health policy.
While Brooks-LaSure will need to be confirmed by the Senate, the Biden administration has named a number of other top officials within HHS who don’t need to await confirmation. In addition, the Biden administration has yet to confirm, but the press reports that the next director of the CMS Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation will be Liz Fowler, who is currently executive vice president for programs with the Commonwealth Fund. She too worked on Capitol Hill during passage of the ACA.
$1.9T COVID RELIEF BILL ADVANCES This week the House Budget Committee marked up President Biden’s COVID Relief Plan and the measure passed out of Committee. The House Rules Committee then took up the package, which required reconciliation to comply with rules concerning the budget reconciliation process. At the center of the debate remain Democrat priority provisions such as a bailout of union pension funds and raising the minimum wage. The COVID Relief Plan also includes healthcare measures passed in the House Energy & Commerce Committee February 11 markup, such as funding for vaccine distribution, enhanced testing capabilities, and funding towards the Nation’s public health workforce. Once passed through the House, the Senate will consider the COVID Relief Plan under reconciliation, which requires only a majority vote.
2020 ACO QUALITY REPORTING CONTINUES ACO quality reporting for Performance Year (PY) 2020 is currently underway, with a March 31 deadline to submit quality data. CMS is hosting 2020 Web Interface reporting biweekly support calls on Wednesday afternoons to highlight important updates on reporting quality data and offer ACOs a chance to ask questions from CMS subject matter experts. As ACOs continue to report 2020 quality data, NAACOS has also developed a new resource to assist ACOs in understanding policy changes for 2021 and 2022 quality assessments. This resource highlights the key quality assessment and reporting issues ACOs must consider after completing 2020 data submission and turning attention to the 2021 performance year. In addition to the upcoming MSSP quality reporting deadline, ACOs and providers evaluated under the Merit-based Incentive Payment System (MIPS) need to report 2020 Promoting Interoperability by April 1, 2021. Learn more about MIPS in NAACOS’ 2021 ACO Guide to MACRA.
DATE SET FOR NAACOS’ NEXT DIRECT CONTRACTING LEARNING DISCUSSION Thank you to all who joined the recent Direct Contracting Learning Discussion and made it a success. NAACOS has scheduled the next discussion for March 23. Melanie Matthews of MultiCare Connected Care and Kimberly Kauffman of Best Value Healthcare will lead the discussion. This collaborative discussion will provide a forum for shared learning, and we ask that you send questions or requested conversation topics in advance to directcontracting@naacos.com by March 19 so that we can make the most of this opportunity. NAACOS is hosting this forum as we anticipate members will be weighing their participation options for 2022. Register now!
CMS RELEASES PY 2020 Q4 REPORT PACKAGES FOR MSSP ACOS CMS recently released the Quarter 4 (Q4) report packages for MSSP ACOs. The reports are available through the Data Hub tab in the ACO Management System and include a number of files such as: Assignment List Report, Assignment Summary Report, Aggregate Expenditure/Utilization Report (EXPU), Beneficiary Expenditure Utilization Report, Non-Claims Based Payment File, and 2020 Q3 Claims-Based Quality Measures Report.
Beginning with the PY 2020 Q4 reports packages, CMS is including a new, report named the Beneficiary Expenditure Utilization Report that provides beneficiary-level expenditure and utilization data on your ACO’s assigned population. This replaces the EXPU Drill Down Report (an enhanced report that was previously generated in the SSP ACO Portal) and will be included in quarterly and annual report packages that contain EXPU reports. ACOs that have observations on the Q4 reports can share them on the NAACOS listserv, which NAACOS member ACOs can sign up for.
Welcome New Business Partners
HealthCare Integrated Care Solutions Integrated Care Solutions (ICS) provides patient-centered clinical solutions, innovative IT applications, data analytics, and customized advisory services to those responsible for the quality and cost of care including hospital systems, physician groups and organizations utilizing bundled payments, ACOs or other value-based payment models. integratedcaresolutions.com
NeuroFlow NeuroFlow is a digital health company combining workflow automation, consumer engagement solutions, and applied AI to promote behavioral health integration in all care settings. neuroflow.com
CMS COVID-19 VACCINE RESOURCES CMS recently compiled resources to help distribute information on the COVID-19 vaccine. The resources are available on the COVID-19 Partner Resources page. Health care providers may also find these resources from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) valuable. Additionally, CMS reminds ACOs that monthly CCLF files, including Part A, B, and D data for beneficiaries, may be useful to review beneficiary-level COVID-19 vaccine information.
WATCH: SEN. WHITEHOUSE TOUTS ACO SAVINGS DURING CONFIRMATION HEARING Rhode Island Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse recently praised the work of ACOs in a confirmation hearing of Neera Tandem, nominee for White House budget office director. Federal health care spending, including that of Medicare, will be $5 trillion less this decade than what the Congressional Budget Office forecast in 2010. Whitehouse attributed part of those savings to ACOs and other payment reform efforts. Whitehouse has been an active supporter of ACOs in his work in the Senate, and NAACOS appreciates his raising the valuable benefits of ACOs during the recent hearing. The video of the exchange between Whitehouse and Tandem is on the NAACOS website.
NEW VERSION OF ACO DIRECTORY AVAILABLE NAACOS is pleased to release an updated version of its directory of MSSP ACOs. A popular member resource, this directory succinctly organizes publicly available information from multiple years and sources into one concise and easy to navigate resource. The information includes attributes such as each ACO’s beneficiary size, shared savings, and quality performance scores. The resource includes all MSSP ACOs that were in operation in 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, and/or 2020. Current NAACOS members and partners may download the ACO Directory.
