Despite this, the Next Generation ACO Model team acknowledged that participants reduced gross spending, maintained their quality of care, and developed strategies that paved the way for high-risk alternative payment models.

That is why the news from the CMS comes as a blow to ACOs participating in the model.

Clif Gaus, ScD, president and CEO of the National Association of ACOs (NAACOS), said in a statement, “Next Gen’s extension was a top advocacy priority for us. We understand the constraints and narrow timeframe the CMS Innovation Center had to work under to prolong the model and disagree with findings informal evaluations, which we believe were flawed.”

The Next Generation ACOs saved Medicare $1 billion. They also netted the Medicare Trust Fund $616 million when accounting for shared savings, losses, and discounts to CMS.

Despite this, CMS commissioned analysis that concluded the Next Generation ACO Model has not created enough savings to justify making it permanent.

Industry stakeholders disagree with how researchers conducted their analysis and derived conclusions. They believe the way researchers compared ACO savings is flawed because it compares savings to what has been achieved by other ACOs in the Medicare Shared Savings Program and other various CMMI models.

However, according to the criteria for expanding CMMI models, a model cannot continue or expand if it has not yielded net savings to CMS while also keeping quality of care steady.