Physicians largely lead the first group of Medicare Shared Savings accountable care organizations, but long-term care facilities will be an integral part of their future success, a Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services official said Tuesday.

“We know that one of the best ways to improve quality of care is to better manage patients once they leave the hospital and go into post-acute system,” said CMS deputy administrator Jonathan Blum during a conference call with reporters. “Our expectation is that they will have to have strong post-acute care systems. To me, any ACO that is going to be successful has to be proactive in providing care for those patients in a post-acute setting to avoid necessary rehospitalizations.”

CMS’s 27 Shared Savings Program ACOs, which began on April 1, will serve an estimated 375,000 beneficiaries in 18 states. The group has collectively more than 10,000 physicians, 10 hospitals and 13 physician-driven organizations.

There are 150 applications for groups slated to start July 1.

Accountable care organizations are designed to incentive healthcare providers by allowing them to share in savings resulting from better, cheaper care. While it was part of the Affordable Care Act, even if the law is struck down, the accountable care organization and bundled payment model are nonetheless widely believed to be a future of federal reimbursement. 

The list of accountable care organizations that started April 1 is:

Accountable Care Organization/Collaborative Health Systems Partnerships

·       Accountable Care Coalition of Caldwell County, LLC

Lenoir, NC

·       Accountable Care Coalition of Coastal Georgia

Ormond, FL (Serving beneficiaries in GA and SC)

·       Accountable Care Coalition of Eastern North Carolina, LLC

New Bern, NC

·       Accountable Care Coalition of Greater Athens Georgia

Athens, GA

·       Accountable Care Coalition of Mount Kisco, LLC

Mount Kisco, NY

·       Accountable Care Coalition of the Mississippi Gulf Coast, LLC

Clearwater, FL (Serving beneficiaries in the Mississippi Gulf Coast area)

·       Accountable Care Coalition of the North Country, LLC

Canton, NY

·       Accountable Care Coalition of Southeast Wisconsin, LLC

Milwaukee, WI

·       Accountable Care Coalition of Texas, Inc.

Houston, TX

AHS ACO, LLC

Morristown, NJ (Serving beneficiaries in NJ and PA)

AppleCare Medical ACO, LLC

Buena Park, CA

Arizona Connected Care, LLC

Tucson, AZ

Chinese Community Accountable Care Organization

New York, NY

CIPA Western New York IPA, doing business as Catholic Medical Partners

Buffalo, NY

Coastal Carolina Quality Care, Inc.

New Bern, NC

Crystal Run Healthcare ACO, LLC

Middletown, NY (Serving beneficiaries in NY and PA)

Florida Physicians Trust, LLC

Winter Park, FL

Hackensack Physician-Hospital Alliance ACO, LLC

Hackensack, NJ (Serving beneficiaries in NJ and NY)

Jackson Purchase Medical Associates, PSC

Paducah, KY

Jordan Community ACO

Plymouth, MA

North Country ACO

Littleton, NH (Serving beneficiaries in NH and VT)

Optimus Healthcare Partners, LLC

Summit, NJ

Physicians of Cape Cod ACO Description of Organization

Hyannis, MA

Premier ACO Physician Network

Lakewood, CA

Primary Partners, LLC

Clermont, FL

RGV ACO Health Providers, LLC

Donna, TX

West Florida ACO, LLC

Trinity, FL