New Insurance Findings Has Been Reported by Investigators at RTI International (Benchmarking Changes and Selective Participation In the Medicare Shared Savings Program): Insurance

2023 JUN 23 (NewsRx) -- By a News Reporter-Staff News Editor at Health Policy and Law Daily -- New research on Insurance is the subject of a report. According to news reporting from Research Triangle Park, North Carolina, by NewsRx journalists, research stated, “In 2017 the Medicare Shared Savings Program (MSSP) began incorporating regional spending into accountable care organization (ACO) benchmarks, thus favoring the participation of ACOs and practices with lower baseline spending than their region. To characterize providers’ responses to these incentives, we isolated changes in spending due to changes in the mix of ACOs and practices participating in the MSSP.”

Financial supporters for this research include NIH National Institute on Aging (NIA), Agency for Healthcare Research & Quality, Arnold Ventures.

The news correspondents obtained a quote from the research from RTI International, “In contrast to earlier participation patterns, the composition of the MSSP after 2017 increasingly shifted to providers with lower preexisting levels of spending relative to their region, consistent with a selection response. Changes occurred through the entry of new ACOs with lower baseline spending, the exit of higher-spending ACOs, and the reconfiguration of participant lists favoring lower-spending practices within continuing ACOs. These participation patterns varied meaningfully by ACO type.”

According to the news reporters, the research concluded: “Although compositional changes could not be definitively tied to benchmarking changes, the disproportionate participation of providers with lower baseline spending implies substantial costs and the need for ACO benchmarking reforms.”

This research has been peer-reviewed.

For more information on this research see: Benchmarking Changes and Selective Participation In the Medicare Shared Savings Program. Health Affairs, 2023;42(5):622-631. Health Affairs can be contacted at: Project Hope, 7500 Old Georgetown Rd, Ste 600, Bethesda, MD 20814-6133, USA.

Our news journalists report that additional information may be obtained by contacting Peter F. Lyu, RTI International, Res Triangle Park, NC 27709, United States. Additional authors for this research include Michael E. Chernew and J. Michael McWilliams.

The direct object identifier (DOI) for that additional information is: https://doi.org/10.1377/hlthaff.2022.01061. This DOI is a link to an online electronic document that is either free or for purchase, and can be your direct source for a journal article and its citation.

(Our reports deliver fact-based news of research and discoveries from around the world.)