The Beaumont ACO ranked as best performing Medicare Shared Savings Program ACO in Michigan according to data by The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.

For the fifth year in a row, the Beaumont ACO exceeded performance goals and helped save Medicare more than $22.4 million by improving care and implementing best practices and cost savings measures for its more than 13,400 Medicare patients.

This ranks the Beaumont ACO seventh nationally among all ACOs in terms of percent savings per beneficiary per year, and first in the state of Michigan. In five years of participation in the program, the ACO has created savings for Medicare totaling $88 million.

Formed in 2010 (as the Oakwood ACO), the Beaumont ACO is a voluntary partnership among physicians and Beaumont hospitals, providing them the opportunity to share in cost savings resulting from their efforts to improve patient care and outcomes. Intended to enhance collaboration, ACO providers have been working together for more than eight years to provide higher quality patient care at greater value.

Under the MSSP contract, when an ACO or other contracted group demonstrates that it has achieved high-quality care and has effectively reduced spending of health care dollars above certain thresholds, it is able to share in the savings generated for Medicare. This year participating MSSP providers in the Beaumont ACO will share in a large portion of just under $9.8 million in shared savings.

The Shared Savings Program looks at four quality data collection domains, which include: Patient/Caregiver Experience, Care Coordination/Patient Safety, Preventive Health and At Risk Populations.

The Beaumont ACO received an overall quality score of 88.85 percent.