CMS http://cms.hhs.gov is funding the new ACO Investment Model for $114 million to go to 75 ACOs across the country. A Request for Applications for funding is available for the Accountable Care Organizations (ACO) participating in the Medicare Shared Savings Program and for future ACOs.
The ACO Investment Model http://innovation.cms/initiatives/ACO-Investment-Model was developed in response to stakeholders suggesting that some providers lacked adequate access to the capital needed to invest in the infrastructure to successfully implement population care management.
Eligibility for the new Investment Model is targeted to ACOs who joined the Shared Savings program in 2012, 2013, and 2014 and to new ACOs joining the Shared Savings Program in 2016. For new Shared Savings Program ACOs joining in 2016, the ACO Investment Model wants to encourage more coordinated accountable care in rural areas where there has been little ACO activity.
The application deadline for organizations that started in the Shared Savings Program in 2012 or 2013 will be December 1, 2014. Applications will become available in the summer of 2015 for ACOs that started in the Shared Savings Program in 2014 or are planning to start in 2016.
In selecting ACOs, new ACOs serving rural areas and areas with low ACO penetration will be targeted and to existing ACOs committed to moving to higher risk tracks. CMS will also give preference to ACOs that can provide high quality of care, achieved their financial benchmark, able to demonstrate exceptional financial need, and ACOs that submit compelling proposals on how they will invest both their own funds and CMS funds.
For questions, contact AIM@cms.hhs.gov and for technical questions directly related to the online application tool go to CMMIForceSupport@CMS.hhs.gov or call 1-888-734-6433.