Issue link: https://beckershealthcare.uberflip.com/i/790284
28 POPULATION HEALTH Meet the 28 New Next Generation ACOs By Emily Rappleye C MS' Next Generation ACO Model welcomed 28 entrants since the start of 2017, bringing the total number of participating organizations to 45. ACOs selected for the Next Generation mod- el have already cut their teeth elsewhere — in demonstrations like the Medicare Shared Savings Program and the Pioneer ACO Mod- el. e Next Generation program requires shouldering greater levels of financial risk than other ACO models — but it also of- fers a bigger payoff. And beginning in 2017, CMS is sweetening the deal. Next Generation ACOs will also qualify as advanced alterna- tive payment models under the Medicare Ac- cess and CHIP Reauthorization Act's Quality Payment Program in the 2017 reporting year. is means clinicians with sufficient partic- ipation in a Next Generation ACO in 2017 may qualify for additional incentive pay- ments beginning in 2019. Seventeen ACOs are continuing in the pro- gram from 2016. ree ACOs dropped the program mid-year and Peoria, Ill.-based OSF Healthcare System was quietly le off the 2017 listing. However, Heritage California ACO, one of the three ACOs that dropped mid-2016, is returning aer a brief hiatus, and CMS counts it as one of the 28 new entrants. Here are the 28 organizations joining the Next Generation ACO Model in 2017, listed in al- phabetical order. • Accountable Care Coalition of Chesapeake (Houston) • Accountable Care Options (Boynton Beach, Fla.) • Allina Integrated Medical Network (Minne- apolis) • APA ACO (Glendale, Calif.) • Arizona Care Network (Phoenix) • Atrius Health (Newton, Mass.) • Bronx Accountable Healthcare Network IPA (New York City) • Carilion Clinic Medicare Shared Savings Company (Roanoke, Va.) • Dartmouth-Hitchcock Health (Lebanon, N.H.) • DaVita Medical ACO California (El Segun- do) • Fairview Health Services (Minneapolis) • Hill Physicians Medical Group (San Ramon, Calif.) • Indiana University Health (Indianapolis) • Integra Community Care Network (Provi- dence, R.I.) • KentuckyOne Health Partners (Louisville, Ky.) • Michigan Pioneer ACO (Southfield) • Monarch Health Plan (Irvine, Calif.) • National ACO (Beverly Hills, Calif.) • Partners Community Physicians Organiza- tion (Boston) • Physicians of Southwest Washington (Olym- pia) • Premier Health ACO of Ohio (Dayton) • ProHealth Solutions (Waukesha, Wis.) • Prospect ACO Northeast (Los Angeles) • Regal Medical Group, doing business as Her- itage California ACO (Northridge, Calif.) • Sharp HealthCare ACO – II (San Diego) • St. Luke's Clinic Coordinated Care (Boise, Idaho) • UNC Senior Alliance (Morrisville, N.C.) • UT Southwestern Accountable Care Net- work (Dallas) n NYC Health + Hospitals Develops System to Manage Hard-to- Discharge Patients By Tamara Rosin N YC Health + Hospitals launched a pilot program de- signed to improve the quality of life of long-term hos- pital patients who are difficult to discharge into post- acute care settings. Through the program, which could save hospitals millions in costly and unnecessary hospital stays, patients transition out of the hospital and into post-acute settings that are better suited to provide the care they need. The "Better Way to Live" program combines hospital and post-acute care providers to develop a new transition path, targeted interventions and services for "alternate level of care" patients, or patients who are no longer acutely ill but cannot live on their own due to medical, mental health and social challenges. The pilot has already successfully transitioned more than 60 ALC patients — some who were hospitalized for months or even a year — into long-term care beds in the public health system's post-acute care facilities. Once NYC Health + Hos- pitals expands the pilot across the whole system, the pro- gram is expected to save the organization more than $3.5 million a year. n