MACRA Could Spawn Gentler Track for Downside Shared-Savings Risk

As part of the 2017 final rule announced earlier this month for the Medicare Access & CHIP Reauthorization Act of 2015 (MACRA), federal officials signaled their intention to create MSSP Track 1+.

Under current regulations, MSSP Track 1 bears no downside risk for accountable care organizations (ACOs); MSSP Track 2 and Track 3 feature both upside and downside risk.

"It is a pretty big jump in terms of downside risk to Track 2; so it would be helpful, particularly to retain ACOs that are already in the program, to give them something in between Track 1 and Track 2," says Melissa Myers, JD, MPA, senior associate director of policy for the Chicago-based American Hospital Association.