All-Payer Value-Based Contracting in Organizations With Medicare ACOs

Abstract

OBJECTIVES: To measure the prevalence of non-Medicare value-based contracting and participation in contracts with downside risk among organizations participating in the Medicare Shared Savings Program (MSSP). STUDY DESIGN: Cross-sectional analysis of 2022 accountable care organization (ACO) survey. METHODS: The author analyzed surveys from 100 organizations participating in the MSSP that reported the number of covered lives they have in value-based contracts in traditional Medicare (ACOs), Medicare Advantage (MA), commercial payers, Medicaid managed care organizations, Medicaid, and direct-to-employer arrangements. We analyzed the distribution of covered lives across shared-savings, shared-risk, and full-risk contracts and analyzed changes between 2018 and 2022. RESULTS: Respondents reported 15.5 million covered lives in value-based contracts. All respondents have Medicare ACO contracts, and roughly 75% reported value-based contracts with commercial and MA plans. Approximately one-third reported such contracts with Medicaid managed care plans. Seventy percent of covered lives in respondents’ Medicare ACO contracts included downside risk for losses compared with 51% of lives in commercial plans and 45% in MA plans. Compared with a similar 2018 survey, the proportion of respondents in value-based MA contracts doubled, and the proportion in commercial contracts rose by half. CONCLUSIONS: Organizations that participate in Medicare ACO models have substantially increased their participation in value-based contracts with other payers. They reported a higher proportion of Medicare ACO covered lives in downside risk arrangements than in commercial or MA contracts.