New research suggests a popular care model in the Medicare program may not be well suited to restrain spending growth for patients with catastrophic health problems.
The June Report to the Congress by the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission found that program beneficiaries who remain continuously enrolled in Accountable Care Organizations over a four-year period had 10% lower health-care spending growth than other beneficiaries in their markets.
But spending growth for beneficiaries who switched ACOs—doctors and hospitals who band together to manage care for Medicare patients—or were assigned out of them over that same period from 2012 to 2016 was nearly ...