BERKELEY HEIGHTS, NJ, March 2, 2022 – Continuing its long-standing commitment to provide high quality care at a lower cost to patients, Summit Health announced today that three of its medical groups are participants in The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) 2022 Medicare Shared Savings Program (MSSP) in New Jersey, New York, and Oregon. Summit Health has three distinct MSSPs under Accountable Care Organization (ACO) in the U.S. In New Jersey, Summit Health has launched the Summit Health ACO, to build on its experience and success as a Next Generation ACO and its commitment to primary care transformation and population health. Summit Health is also participating in Westmed Medical Group in New York, and Cascades Healthcare Network ACO in Oregon.
ACOs are serving a growing patient population and CMS projects that over 11 million people with Medicare will be served by Shared Savings Program ACOs in 2022.CMS announced that 66 new ACOs joined the program and 140 existing ACOs renewed their participation for a new agreement period starting January 1, 2022. This brings the total number of ACOs in the Shared Savings Program to 483 in 2022.
“As a participant in the 2022 Medicare Shared Savings Program ACOs, we are furthering Summit Health’s care philosophy and the quality aspects of our model – improving outcomes for patients with chronic conditions such as diabetes, improving vaccine rates and cancer screening rates, ensuring that Medicare patients understand preventive benefits, that they see their PCPs for Annual Wellness Visits, and have access to care whenever and wherever they need care,” said Ashish D. Parikh, MD, Chief Quality Officer, Summit Health.
“By building our care model to better manage risk and thrive in a value-based environment, we have repeatedly demonstrated an exceptional ability to always do right by our patients and deliver, coordinated, connected care, including stratifying risk, managing chronic conditions, and reducing hospital stays,” added Jamie Reedy, MD, Chief of Population Health at Summit Health. “We have performed very well in value-based contracts to date, and we are committed to making population health, our primary care transformation efforts, and care coordination ongoing priorities to serve Medicare patients.”
It’s important for patients to know that ACOs do not change any of your Medicare benefits and do not limit your choice of health care providers. You’ll have the right to visit any doctor, hospital, or other provider that accepts Medicare at any time (even if that hospital or doctor isn’t a part of an ACO), just like you do now.
ACOs are held accountable for performance on outcomes, patient experience measures, and cost of care for Medicare beneficiaries. Better care at a lower cost is accomplished through integrated care with all health care providers working as a team. The Medicare Shared Savings Program makes data on ACOs publicly available. Find the most recent data on Data.CMS.gov.
About Summit Health
Summit Health is a physician-driven, patient-centric network committed to simplifying the complexities of health care and bringing a more connected kind of care. Formed by the 2019 merger between Summit Medical Group, one of the nation's premier independent physician-governed multispecialty medical groups, and CityMD, the leading urgent care provider in the New York metro area, Summit Health delivers a more intuitive, comprehensive, and responsive care experience for every stage of life and health condition through high-quality primary, specialty, and urgent care. Summit Health has more than 2,500 providers, 12,000 employees, and over 340 locations in New Jersey, New York, Connecticut, Pennsylvania, and Central Oregon. For more information, please visit https://www.summithealth.com .