Why One Medicare Pioneer ACO Succeeded In Saving Money

How did Beth Israel Deaconess Care Organization meet Medicare's cost targets and receive substantial shared savings in the first year of the Medicare Pioneer accountable care organization experiment?

“We use a sophisticated computer algorithm and see who's at risk for hospitalization,” said Dr. Richard Parker, chief medical officer for the Boston-based ACO, which came in 4.2% below its budget target and produced more than $15 million in shared savings, which it split with Medicare. “Then we run that data past the primary-care doctors and develop care-management resources as appropriate.”

Only 13 of the 32 Pioneers produced enough savings to share some of that money with the CMS. Those 13 yielded gross savings of $87.6 million in 2012, saving about $33 million for Medicare.