Medicare Shared Savings Program: CMS Finalizes Changes Affecting All ACOs

On June 4, 2015, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services ("CMS"), issued a final rule (the "Final Rule") implementing changes to the Medicare Shared Savings Program ("MSSP"). The Final Rule addresses matters raised in a proposed rule published December 2014 (the "Proposed Rule"), which we summarized in a prior alert.

The Final Rule adopts changes intended to entice providers to participate in the MSSP while encouraging them to adopt two-sided risk models. The most notable of these changes are: 

• allowing current Track 1 Accountable Care Organizations ("ACOs") to extend the period that they can participate without assuming any financial risk;
• the establishment of a new risk-based ACO track ("Track 3"), a two-sided model with a higher sharing rate (75%), prospective beneficiary assignment and the opportunity to apply for a waiver of the three-day skilled nursing facility ("SNF") rule;