News Release
January 29, 2024 

NAACOS Statement on ACO Growth in 2024

Attributed to Clif Gaus, Sc.D., President and CEO of the National Association of ACOs 

WASHINGTON – More Medicare patients than ever are being cared for by accountable care organizations this year, according to data released today from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS). Nearly 13.4 million beneficiaries are in the now 122 Realizing Equity, Access, and Community Health (REACH) Model ACOs and the 481 ACOs in the Medicare Shared Savings Program, the country’s dominant value-based payment program. 

NAACOS is happy to see growth in these important CMS programs, which was helped by changes put in place this year to help more provider organizations join value-based care models.  

However, more work must be done to extend value-based care and reach CMS’s goal of having all patients in an accountable care relationship by 2030. To do so, NAACOS recommends that CMS enact policies that keep current ACOs in the program while bringing new ones in. This includes correcting the benchmark ratchet that will make it more difficult for ACOs to create sustainable savings, improving quality reporting requirements to make it less burdensome for ACOs, updating patient engagement requirements, and leveraging MSSP as an innovation platform with hybrid primary care payments and more options for risk. 

#####

Contact:

David Pittman
Director, Communications and Regulatory Affairs
202-640-2689 or dpittman@naacos.com