Development and Performance of Medicaid ACOs

Accountable care strategies engage health care providers and communities in organized care-improvement initiatives. In 2011, the NJ legislature enacted the Medicaid ACO Demonstration Project, naming CSHP the program’s evaluator. The CSHP team is working closely with Medicaid stakeholders in NJ and across the nation to ensure that the study addresses questions of greatest import for accountable care policies and practices here and in other states. The project is examining the impact of ACO activities on Medicaid spending and quality of care. It is also informing policy using simulation models based on the claims/encounter data to assess the accuracy and statistical reliability of alternative methods for measuring savings associated with Medicaid ACO activities. These quantitative analyses are being complemented with in-depth qualitative interviews to assess how NJ’s ACOs are redesigning care, engaging patients, and modifying strategies with accumulated experience.