Publication: Overlap between Voluntary Bundled Payments and Accountable Care Organizations

Accountable care organization programs (ACOs) and bundled payments represent prominent nationwide value-based payment models, but the magnitude of overlap between the two models has not yet been described.

VSSL team member Dr. Joshua Liao was senior author on a recent article published in the Journal of Hospital Medicine that used Medicare data from the Medicare Shared Savings Program (MSSP) and Bundled Payments for Care Improvement (BPCI) programs to describe overlap. Key points from the article:

* Between 2013 and 2016, overlap as a share of ACO patients increased from 2.7% to 10% across BPCI episodes

* Over that same period, overlap as a share of all bundled payment patients increased from 19% to 27%

* Overlap from the perspectives of both ACO and bundled payments varied by specific episode * The authors conclude that "in the first description of overlap between ACOs and bundled payments, one in every ten MSSP patients received care under BPCI by the end of our study period, whereas more than one in every four patients receiving care under BPCI were also attributed to MSSP. Policymakers should consider strategies to address the clinical and policy implications of increasing payment model overlap."