Page 6 - NAACOS Membership Brochure

ADVOCACY

While demonstrating resilience and commitment to their patients and communities,
ACOs and their front line health care workers continued to face unprecedented
challenges in 2021 from the COVID-19 pandemic. To support ACOs, NAACOS worked
tirelessly in Washington, DC, to advocate for policies to strengthen the ACO model and
advance the overall shift to value-based payment. As Medicare ACOs enter a second
decade in an everchanging landscape, NAACOS stands ready to partner with members
and lead the way to accountable care.

Key 2021 NAACOS advocacy wins:

• Led a multi-pronged advocacy campaign to convince the Centers for Medicare &
Medicaid Services (CMS) to revise new MSSP quality measurement and reporting
requirements, resulting in a three-year delay of a mandated shift to electronic
clinical quality measures (eCQMs)

• Protected ACOs’ ability to earn the 5 percent advanced APM bonus by keeping
“QP” thresholds at performance year 2020 levels for 2021 and 2022

• Worked with congressional champions to introduce legislation—the Value in
Health Care Act (H.R. 4587)—to improve MSSP and update implementation of
the Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act of 2015 (MACRA)
• Worked with CMS to improve the Direct Contracting Model

• Built strong relationships with new administration and congressional leaders,
setting the stage to advance effective ACO policies