ACO Updates
September 2023
Silver State ACO Announces Shared Savings for 2022
CMS releases results for 2022. Silver State ACO is successful for the eighth consecutive year earning significant Shared Savings for its Participants by delivering high quality care, and saving Medicare over $35.9 Million
Las Vegas, NV (August 29, 2023) — The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) has released results for the 2022 performance year for Accountable Care Organizations (ACOs). Silver State ACO is proud and delighted to announce that it has earned Shared Savings for the eighth year in a row (2015 – 2022).
Silver State ACO’s results are astounding, having saved CMS over $35,991,000 in 2022, and cumulatively more than $232,000,000 over the last eight years.
In 2022, there were a total of 482 Medicare Shared Savings Program (MSSP) ACOs in the country. Silver State ACO ranked 20th in highest savings earned and 24th in highest savings generated for CMS. It ranked #1 in both generated and earned savings in the state of Nevada.
There are only seventeen ACOs that have earned shared savings for the last eight consecutive years. Of these, Silver State ACO ranked third in savings it generated for CMS, as well as in savings it earned, for 2022. The $232,000,000 it saved CMS over the eight years, as well as the total $137,000,000 it earned over that time, are the third highest totals. Of this elite group of ACOs that has earned shared savings for eight consecutive years, Silver State ACO is one of only five operating west of the Mississippi to have done so (the other four are in Texas).
In 2013, CMS launched the Medicare Shared Savings Program in an effort to reduce costs and increase quality for “traditional” fee-for-service Medicare beneficiaries. It allows groups of physicians, predominantly primary care providers, to voluntarily join together in an effort to accomplish those goals. The program gives providers the opportunity to earn back part of the savings they generate for CMS, by achieving set benchmarks. An ACO is eligible to share in the savings it generates only if it also achieves and reports high quality care and improved clinical outcomes.
Silver State ACO is physician led and is sponsored, in part, by The Valley Health System, Northern Nevada Health System and ScionHealth. Partnering with these established, high quality healthcare providers assists in smooth transitions in the continuum of care. Silver State ACO believes that by working together with the hospital system and a preferred provider network, which includes specialists, and skilled nursing and rehabilitation facilities, the beneficiaries get the care they need, at the right time, in the right place, and at the right level.
Silver State ACO provides services and resources to its Participant practices. These include electronically delivering real time notification of patients discharged from acute facilities, as well as providing gaps in care data to physicians to act on when a patient is in the clinic. Systems are in place for coordinating care of patients post discharge, as well as in their homes. These programs assist Participants by identifying resources and opportunities for increasing revenue to the practice while reducing overall costs. Sharing data can help physicians in providing outstanding patient care.
Each Participant practice has a dedicated Quality Coordinator (QC), provided free of charge by Silver State ACO. These highly trained QCs keep the practices apprised of CMS updates and changes, and assist in required quality reporting.
Silver State ACO providers have worked diligently to provide exceptional care while reducing overutilization, redundancy and cost. The results speak for themselves. Over the past eight years, Silver State ACO has been successful in its goal to assist its Participant practices, and save money for CMS, while ensuring continued quality of care to its attributed patients.
For the 2023 performance year, Silver State ACO is comprised of 53 medical practices, with nearly 34,000 attributed beneficiaries throughout the state of Nevada. Silver State ACO looks forward to continued success in assisting its Participants in providing high quality care while reducing Medicare costs.
September 2022
Silver State ACO Announces Shared Savings for 2021
CMS releases results for 2021. Silver State ACO is successful for the seventh consecutive year earning significant Shared Savings for its Participants by delivering high quality care, and saving Medicare over $33.7 Million
Las Vegas, NV (August 31, 2022) — The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) has released results of the 2021 performance year for Accountable Care Organizations (ACOs). Silver State ACO is proud and delighted to announce that it has earned Shared Savings for the seventh year in a row (2015– 2021)!
Silver State ACO’s results are astounding, having saved CMS over $33,782,000 in 2021, and cumulatively more than $196,500,000 over the seven years.
In 2021, there were a total of 475 Medicare Shared Savings Program (MSSP) ACOs in the country. Silver State ACO ranked twelfth in highest savings earned.
There are only nineteen ACOs that have earned shared savings for seven consecutive years. Of these, Silver State ACO ranked second in savings it generated for CMS, as well as in savings it earned, for 2021. And, the $196,500,000 it saved CMS over the seven years, as well as the total $111,300,000 it earned over that time, are the third highest totals. Of this elite group of ACOs that has earned shared savings for seven consecutive years, Silver State ACO is the only one west of Texas to have done so.
In 2013, CMS launched the Medicare Shared Savings Program in an effort to reduce costs and increase quality for “traditional” fee-for-service Medicare beneficiaries. It allows groups of physicians, predominantly primary care providers, to voluntarily join together in an effort to accomplish those goals. The program gives providers the opportunity to earn back part of the savings they generate for CMS, by achieving set benchmarks. An ACO is eligible to share in the savings it generates only if it also achieves and reports high quality care and improved clinical outcomes.
Silver State ACO is physician led, representing more than 80% of the Board of Directors. It is sponsored, in part, by the Valley Health System, Northern Nevada Health System and Kindred Healthcare. Partnering with these established, high quality healthcare providers assists in smooth transitions in the continuum of care. Silver State ACO believes that working together with the hospital system and a preferred provider network, which includes specialists, skilled nursing and rehabilitation facilities, the beneficiaries get the care they need, at the right time, in the right place, and at the right level.
Silver State ACO provides services and resources to its Participant practices. These include electronically delivering real time notification of patients discharged from acute facilities, as well as providing gaps in care data to physicians when a patient is in the clinic. Systems are in place for coordinating care of patients post discharge as well as in their homes. These programs assist Participants by identifying resources and opportunities for increasing revenue to the practice while reducing overall costs, and by sharing data that can help physicians in providing outstanding patient care. Silver State ACO provides a staff of Quality Coordinators, dedicated to assigned practices, who keep the practices apprised of CMS updates and changes, and assist in required quality reporting .
Silver State ACO providers have worked diligently to provide exceptional care while reducing overutilization, redundancy and cost. The results speak for themselves. Over the past seven years, Silver State ACO has been successful, saving Medicare and taxpayers over $196 Million.
Silver State ACO is currently comprised of 56 medical practices, with nearly 40,000 attributed beneficiaries throughout the state of Nevada. Silver State ACO looks forward to continued success in assisting its Participants in providing high quality care while reducing Medicare costs.
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August 2021
Silver State ACO Announces Shared Savings for 2020
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) has released results for 2020, confirming that Silver State ACO has been successful for the sixth consecutive year (2015 – 2020). Silver State ACO has, once again, earned significant Shared Savings for its Participants by delivering high quality care, and saving Medicare over $44.1 Million
Las Vegas, NV (August 26, 2021) — The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) released results of the 2020 performance year for Accountable Care Organizations (ACOs). Silver State ACO is proud to announce that it has earned Shared Savings for the sixth year in a row!
Silver State ACO’s results are staggering, having saved CMS over $44,185,000 in 2020, and cumulatively more than $162,817,000 since 2015.
In 2020, there were a total of 513 Medicare Shared Savings Program (MSSP) ACOs in the country. Silver State ACO ranked eighth in highest savings earned for CMS. Of the top ten ACOs in highest savings earned, Silver State ACO is second in per beneficiary savings.
An ACO is a group of physicians who voluntarily join together in an effort to reduce costs and increase quality. Within the Medicare Shared Savings Program, providers can earn back part of the savings they generate for Medicare by hitting pre-determined spending goals. In 2013, CMS established the ACO program to improve the quality of care for “traditional” Fee-for-Service Medicare beneficiaries and to lower overall Medicare costs. An ACO must achieve and report high quality in order to be eligible to share in savings, if earned. Silver State ACO’s quality score for 2020 was 98.75%.
Silver State ACO is physician-led, with a focus on primary care. It is sponsored, in part, by the Valley Health System, Northern Nevada Health System and Kindred Healthcare. Silver State ACO believes that working together with the hospital system and a preferred provider network, which includes specialists, skilled nursing and rehabilitation facilities, the beneficiaries can get the care they need, at the right time, in the right place, and at the right level.
Silver State ACO provides services and resources to its Participant practices. These include notifying a practice when its patient is registered at an emergency room, or admitted or discharged from the hospital, as well as coordinating care of the patient post discharge. Silver State ACO supports its Participant practices by identifying resources and opportunities for increasing revenue to the practice while reducing overall costs. Silver State ACO provides a staff of Quality Coordinators, dedicated to each practice, who aid in quality reporting required by CMS, and update the practice regarding CMS rules and regulations.
Silver State ACO providers have worked diligently to provide excellent care while reducing overutilization and costs. The results speak for themselves – In each of the past six years, Silver State ACO has been successful. Over the six years, 2015 – 2020, we have saved Medicare over $162.8 Million and earned Shared Savings of over $86.5 Million.
Silver State ACO is currently comprised of 55 medical practices, with over 42,000 attributed beneficiaries throughout the state of Nevada. Silver State ACO looks forward to continued success in assisting its Participants in providing high quality care while reducing Medicare costs.
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September 2020
Silver State ACO Announces Shared Savings for 2019 –$48.6 Million in Medicare Savings
Successful Five years in a row (2015 – 2019) for Total Medicare Savings of over $118,600,000 Silver State ACO, a Medicare Shared Savings program, delivers high quality and earns significant savings for its Participants.
Las Vegas, NV (September 15, 2020) — The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) released results of the 2019 performance year for Accountable Care Organizations (ACOs). Silver State ACO is proudly announcing that it has earned Shared Savings for the fifth year in a row!
Silver State ACO’s results are staggering. Having saved CMS over $48.6 Million in 2019, Silver State ACO is one of only 33 ACOs (out of 541) that have earned savings the last 5 consecutive years. Out of the top 10 ACOs (based on savings earned) Silver State ACO is 7th in both Earned Savings and total Generated Savings, is #1 for per Beneficiary Savings and is #2 for Savings Rate at 10.26%.
An ACO is a group of physicians who voluntarily join together in an effort to reduce costs and increase quality. Within the Medicare Shared Savings Program, providers can earn back part of the savings they generate for Medicare by hitting pre-determined spending goals. In 2013, CMS established the ACO program to improve the quality of care for Medicare beneficiaries and lower Medicare costs. An ACO must achieve and report high quality in order to be eligible to share in savings, if earned.
Silver State ACO is physician-led, with a focus on primary care. It is sponsored, in part, by the Valley Health System, Northern Nevada Health System and Kindred Healthcare. Silver State ACO believes that working together with the hospital system and a preferred provider network, which includes specialists, skilled nursing and rehabilitation facilities, our beneficiaries can get the care they need, at the right time, right place, and at the right level.
Silver State ACO provides services and resources to its Participant Practices. This includes notifying a practice when its patient is registered at an emergency room, admitted or discharged from the hospital. In addition, it encompasses integrating care coordination of the patient post discharge, and identifying resources and opportunities for increasing revenue to the practice while reducing overall costs to Medicare. Silver State ACO provides a staff of Quality Coordinators, dedicated to each practice, who aid in quality reporting required by CMS, and update the practice regarding CMS rules and regulations.
Silver State ACO providers have worked diligently to provide excellent care while reducing overutilization and costs. The results speak for themselves – In each of the past five years, Silver State ACO has been successful. Over the five years, 2015 – 2019, we have saved Medicare over $118 Million and earned Shared Savings of nearly $54 Million.
Silver State ACO is currently comprised of 49 medical practices, with over 54,000 attributed beneficiaries throughout the state of Nevada. Silver State ACO plans on expanding in 2021 and looks forward to continued success in assisting its Participants in providing high quality care while reducing Medicare costs.
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October 2019
Silver State ACO Announces PERFECT MIPS Score for 2018
Silver State ACO (“SSACO”) is extremely proud to share the news that we have achieved a perfect 100 out of 100 score for the Merit-based Incentive Payment System (“MIPS”) for the 2018 performance year. This means that Silver State ACO received the maximum number of points and earned the maximum +1.68% MIPS payment adjustment awarded by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (“CMS”) for 2018. SSACO 2018 Participants will see the positive adjustment on every EOB they receive from CMS in 2020.
MIPS was implemented by CMS in 2017 in its ongoing mission to improve care while reducing costs. MIPS is designed to reward Medicare providers who perform particularly well in specific performance measures. Being part of Silver State ACO helped our Participants to improve in many of these measures, and assisted those practices in their individual goals.
Each Silver State ACO participant group has a dedicated Quality Coordinator who helped identify care gaps as well as opportunities for improvement. The entire SSACO team works to support our Participants’ determination to improve care while reducing costs.
We are particularly proud of those practices who have shown major improvement. With the assistance of Silver State ACO, the overall score has increased dramatically from the previous year, 2017, which was the initial year of the MIPS program.
Silver State ACO, currently comprised of forty four practices and representing nearly 42,000 attributed Medicare Fee-for-Service Beneficiaries, was established in 2014. It is one of the very few Medicare Shared Savings Program Accountable Care Organizations (MSSP ACO) to have been successful and earned Shared Savings for four consecutive years – 2015, 2016, 2017 and 2018. We look forward to ongoing success in 2019 and beyond, as we move to the CMS Medicare Shared Savings Pathways to Success program.
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October 3, 2019
Dear Friends and Associates,
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) has just announced that we may share the recently released results for the 2018 performance year for the Medicare Shared Savings Program.
We are immensely proud and pleased to announce to you that for the fourth year in a row Silver State ACO has earned shared savings. This is a spectacular achievement which very few ACOs nationwide have attained.
- Only 3 ACO’s west of Texas earned shared savings four years in a row;
- Only 42 ACOs in the entire country, (less than 8%) have earned shared savings 4 years in a row;
- SSACO ranked 11th for 2018 in the nation for earned shared savings to an ACO;
- SSACO ranked 12th in the nation in gross savings in 2018;
- Over the last 4 years SSACO has saved CMS almost 70 million dollars!
Achieving shared savings is a result of hard work and cooperation between the Participant Providers, Preferred Providers and Silver State ACO. We’d like to thank our providers and their staff for helping us achieve this. Together as a team, along with our corporate partners Kindred Healthcare and the Valley Health System, we can continue to accomplish great results for our practices, our providers and our patients.
Again, thank you. Sincerely,
J. Bruce Wiggins, MBA Rhonda Hamilton, LPN
Vice Chairperson Chief Operating Officer
Co-Founder
Linn Billingsley, RN Karla Perez, MBA
Vice Chairperson, Executive Committee
cc: Lawrence M. Preston, CEO
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August 31, 2018
Dear Friends and Associates,
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) has just announced that we may share the recently released results for the 2017 performance year for the Medicare Shared Savings Program.
We are immensely proud and pleased to announce to you that for the third year in a row Silver State ACO has earned shared savings. This is a spectacular achievement which very few ACOs nationwide have attained.
Over the course of the three years – 2015, 2016 and 2017 - Silver State ACO saved CMS (and taxpayers) nearly $36,000,000.
Silver State ACO participants made significant improvements in quality of care, as evidenced by the outstanding overall quality score of 90.24%, while achieving cost savings. Silver State ACO has proven that delivering excellent care, while reducing costs, is possible!
2018 has also been a great year for Silver State ACO’s growth. We are now comprised of 50 groups with over 400 PCPs. We have 42,000 attributed Medicare Fee-for-Service beneficiaries for whom we are responsible. This shows tremendous growth from the 15,000 patients in 2015, to 19,700 in 2016 and 25,000 in 2017. Our 42,000 patients in 2018 reflects a 68% increase over the previous year.
Achieving shared savings is a result of hard work and cooperation between the Participant Providers, Preferred Providers and Silver State ACO. We’d like to thank our providers and their staff for helping us achieve this. Together as a team, along with our corporate partners Kindred Healthcare and the Valley Health System, we can continue to accomplish great results for our practices, our providers and our patients.
Again, thank you.
Sincerely,
Lawrence M. Preston
CEO
Co-founder
J. Bruce Wiggins
Vice Chairperson of SSACO Board of Directors Co-founder
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January 16, 2018
CMS has released data on 2018 Medicare Shared Savings Program ACOs, now allowing ACOs to publicly announce their participation. In 2018 there are a total of 561 ACOs participating in the various tracks of the program, serving beneficiaries in all 50 states and Washington DC.
Silver State ACO is proud to announce that we are now comprised of 50 physician practices and represent nearly 43,000 attributed beneficiaries. Our 400+ PCPs (statewide) see many times that number of patients. Attributed patients are the ones for whom CMS will consider the cost of care and quality measures scores in determining SSACO’s “success” (i.e. earning shared savings). This number of beneficiaries represents continued and consistent growth, from about 15,000 patients in 2015 to 19,700 in 2016 and nearly 25,000 in 2017. We are the largest ACO in Nevada and our attributed patient population has grown from 2017 by more than 70% to nearly 43,000.
SSACO was successful in both 2015 and 2016, and returned over $3,500,000 of shared savings earned to our Physicians. (Results for 2017 are not expected from CMS until September, 2018).
A listing of the groups that make up Silver State ACO has been uploaded to our website (www.silverstateaco.com). Additional detail will be in our newsletters, also available through the website.
We’d like to take this opportunity to thank our participants, staff, partners and friends who have helped Silver State ACO achieve shared savings, continue to grow, and assist our providers in delivering outstanding care.
Sincerely,
Lawrence M Preston
CEO and Co-founder
J. Bruce Wiggins
Vice Chairperson of SSACO Board of Directors, and Co-founder
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September 1, 2016
Contact: Contact:
Susan E. Moss Bruce Wiggins
Senior Vice President, Governing Board Vice Chairperson
Marketing and Communications Silver State ACO
Kindred Healthcare (702) 528-5037
(502) 596-7296
SILVER STATE ACO: MEDICARE SHARED SAVINGS PROGRAM PERFORMANCE YEAR 2015 QUALITY AND FINANCIAL RESULTS
LOUISVILLE, Ky. and LAS VEGAS, Nev. (September 1, 2016) The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (“CMS”) recently announced the 2015 performance year results for the Medicare Shared Savings Program and the Pioneer Accountable Care Organization Model that show physicians, hospitals and health care providers participating in Accountable Care Organizations continue to make significant improvements in the quality of care for Medicare beneficiaries, while achieving cost savings.
In 2015, Medicare Accountable Care Organizations had combined total program savings of $466 million, which includes all Accountable Care Organizations’ experiences, for 392 Medicare Shared Savings Program participants and 12 Pioneer Accountable Care Organization Model participants. The results show that more Accountable Care Organizations shared savings in 2015 compared to 2014, and those with more experience tend to perform better over time.
Medicare ACOs are groups of doctors, hospitals, and other health care providers, who come together voluntarily to provide coordinated high-quality care to their Medicare patients. The goal of coordinated care is to ensure that patients, especially the chronically ill, get the right care at the right time, while avoiding unnecessary duplication of services and preventing medical errors. When an ACO exceeds quality and financial thresholds – demonstrating achievement of high-quality care and wiser spending of health care dollars – it is able to share in the savings generated for Medicare.
Silver State ACO is one of the ACOs that shared savings.
“Silver State ACO started in 2014 and is extremely pleased to be among only 22% of these ACOs that generated savings for performance year 2015. We are very proud of our high-quality scores which helped us achieve the performance payment,” said Bruce Wiggins, Silver State ACO Co-Founder and Governing Board Vice Chairperson.
“We’ve said time and again that we are uniquely positioned for success in a value-based system of healthcare delivery, and our experience with our partners and patients in the Silver State ACO demonstrates just that,” said Benjamin A. Breier, President and Chief Executive Officer of Kindred Healthcare, Inc. (NYSE:KND), which owns part of Silver State ACO. “This is consistent with Kindred’s strategy to partner with premier health providers in order to effectively manage patient care across an entire episode with improved quality outcomes in local communities nationwide.”
Additional Resources
Visit the Medicare Shared Savings Program News and Updates webpage to access the CMS press release and fact sheet, the link to the Performance Year 2015 results file, and to learn more about the program.
About Kindred Healthcare
Kindred Healthcare, Inc., a top-90 private employer in the United States, is a FORTUNE 500 healthcare services company based in Louisville, Kentucky with annual revenues of approximately $7.2 billion(1). At June 30, 2016, Kindred through its subsidiaries had approximately 101,800 employees providing healthcare services in 2,684 locations in 46 states, including 97 transitional care hospitals, 19 inpatient rehabilitation hospitals, 92 nursing centers, 19 sub-acute units, 617 Kindred at Home home health, hospice and non-medical home care sites of service, 105 inpatient rehabilitation units (hospital-based) and contract rehabilitation service businesses which served 1,735 non-affiliated sites of service. Ranked as one of Fortune magazine’s Most Admired Healthcare Companies for seven years, Kindred’s mission is to promote healing, provide hope, preserve dignity and produce value for each patient, resident, family member, customer, employee and shareholder we serve. For more information, go to www.kindredhealthcare.com. You can also follow us on Twitter and Facebook.
(1)Revenues based upon Kindred consolidated revenues for the twelve months ended June 30, 2016.
About Silver State ACO
Silver State currently covers the lives of approximately 25,000 Medicare beneficiaries in Southern Nevada through the coordinated care delivered by about 225 participating physicians and healthcare providers, including Kindred, which became a strategic owner and partner in the ACO in May 2014. Similar to other Shared Savings ACOs, the goal of Silver State is to ensure that patients, especially the chronically ill, get the right care at the right time, while avoiding unnecessary duplication of services and preventing medical errors. The management team at Silver State has over 100 years of experience in the healthcare field and is determined to make a difference in the quality of care given its patients.
