The savings from the Medicare Shared Savings Program remain modest but are growing, according to results in JAMA and reported in Medical Xpress.
Here are five key notes on the program:
1. In the first full year — 2013 — Medicare reported $73.5 million net loss; in the second year fee-for-service spending reductions grew from 1.5 percent to 2.6 percent in the 114 organizations entering MSSP mid-2012.
2. There were 106 organizations that joined MSSP at the beginning of 2013 that showed a 1 percent growth between 2013 and 2014. The net spending change in 2014 resulted in a $628 million reduction in fee-for-service spending.
3. In 2014 there was a net savings of $287 million to Medicare, with bonus payments at $341 million.
4. Independent physician groups — those without financial ties to hospitals — were the primary savings generators.
5. The researchers concluded the findings challenge “the common assumption that success for new payment systems is predicated on the formation of large integrated delivery systems.”