ACOs by the numbers

By Clive Riddle, July 27, 2012

CMS now touts that with the 88 ACOs brought on line effective July 1, 2012. “the total number of organizations participating in Medicare shared savings initiatives to 153, including the 32 ACOs participating in the testing of the Pioneer ACO Model by the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation (Innovation Center) that were announced last December, and six Physician Group Practice Transition Demonstration organizations that started in January 2011.  In all, as of July 1, more than 2.4 million beneficiaries are receiving care from providers participating in Medicare shared savings initiatives.”

On the commercial side, Cigna has been a national leader in the ACO arms race, with Aetna also making waves, and a wide range of plans have well-developed regional initiatives. Cigna states they are now engaged in 38 patient-centered initiatives in 19 states, including six multi-payer pilots and 32 Cigna-only collaborative accountable care initiatives, covering more than 300,000 Cigna customers, with more than 4,500 participating primary care physicians. Aetna Inc. is developing commercial ACO and Aetna currently has 10 commercial ACO agreements in place and hopes to 20 by the end of the year.

Perhaps the most prevalent commercial strides with attributed membership to date involve the self-funded employee populations of the hospitals and physician organizations that have developed ACOs, using their own employees as the initial pilots for their respective programs.

Using MCOL research in compiling Version 2 of the Accountable Care Directory 2012, the following are ten identified ACOs with large attributed membership (combining Medicare and Commercial when applicable) at this juncture:

1. Advocate Health Partners, serving Illinois with 350,000 attributed members
2. Partners for Kids, serving 37-county coverage area, stretching from urban Columbus to rural Appalachia with 290,000 attributed members
3. Healthcare Partners Medical Group, serving Los Angeles and Orange Counties, CA with 89,000 attributed members
4. Accountable Care Coalition of Texas, Inc. , serving Houston/Beaumont area, Texas with 70,000 attributed members
5. Heritage Provider Network, serving Southern, Central, and Costal California with 70,000 attributed members
6. Aurora Accountable Care Network, serving Eastern Wisconsin and Northern Illinois with 58,000 attributed members
7. Sharp Healthcare ACO, serving San Diego County, California with 56,700 attributed members
8. Atlantic Accountable Care Organization, serving Bergen, Morris, Somerset, Sussex, and Union counties, New Jersey with 50,000 attributed members
9. Hill Physicians Medical Group, serving Sacramento, El Dorado, Placer counties, California' with 46,000 attributed members
10. Partners Healthcare, serving Eastern Massachusetts with 45,000 attributed members