The feds awarded $100 million in bonuses for high-quality health care to these Philly-area organizations in 2023
Two groups of private physicians that have clinics in Philadelphia’s western suburbs were the region's top performers and earned bonuses for delivering quality care that saved Medicare money.
Philadelphia-area physician organizations collected more than $100 million in bonuses last year for delivering quality care that saved Medicare money, according to new federal data.
The best performers were two groups of private physicians that have clinics in Philadelphia’s western suburbs and are affiliated with Aledade, a national company based in Maryland that helps independent primary care doctors manage patients with Medicare.
They are among the dozen local Accountable Care Organizations that participated in the Medicare Shared Savings Program, which is designed to lower costs and improve quality for millions of Americans who get health care through traditional Medicare.
Doctors’ groups can earn bonuses if they meet cost and quality benchmarks. The local ACOs — affiliated with most of the region’s health systems — collectively covered nearly 226,000 people.
More than half the $102 million in bonuses went to two of the region’s largest ACOs. Doctors are supposed to use their shares of the bonuses to enhance their practices. Medicare also keeps part of the savings under the program created by the Affordable Care Act.
Aledade 15 PA MSSP Enhanced had a savings rate of 15.4% and earned a bonus of $33 million while serving nearly 24,000 patients. A second Aledade ACO, called Aledade A2643 Primary Care MSSP Enhanced, had a 10.9% savings rate. It earned a $5.7 million bonus from 5,900 patients.
» READ MORE: How a Chester County doctor's practice benefits from a Medicare ACO's shared savings.
The region’s biggest ACO is a joint venture of Thomas Jefferson University, Main Line Health, and Humana, a Medicare Advantage giant. Delaware Valley ACO had a 4.5% savings rate and earned a $32.9 million bonus. It served 78,000 patients.
Jefferson has a second ACO, Einstein Care Partners, with nearly 14,000 patients. It was the only ACO in the region that didn’t earn a bonus in 2023. Its 0.6% saving rate was too low to qualify for a bonus.
Nationally, 480 Shared Savings Program ACOs include more than 608,000 clinicians who provided care to nearly 11 million people with Medicare as of January, according to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.