NCQA has retired the Accountable Care Organization (ACO) Accreditation effective October 25, 2019. Organizations that have already earned accreditation will maintain their status through their expiration date. For a listing of the organizations currently accredited, visit the NCQA Report Cards.
For ACOs:
Accountable Care Organizations interested in improving quality and aligning with value-based care initiatives should explore NCQA’s patient-centered suite of programs, including Patient-Centered Medical Home (PCMH) Recognition for primary care practices and Patient-Centered Specialty Practice (PCSP) Recognition for specialty practices.
ACOs with high penetration rates of PCMH and PCSP practice sites can reduce fragmentation, better manage care and create a better patient experience. This can lead to improved quality and reduce costs.
A 2018 report looked at quality and savings for ACOs with varying shares of primary care practices recognized by NCQA as a PCMH. The report found:
- ACOs with a higher share of primary care physicians in an NCQA PCMH demonstrated higher quality.
- ACOs that had higher rates of PCMH primary care practices were more likely to generate savings.
- ACOs with higher PCMH penetration rates did better on:
- Pneumococcal vaccination rates.
- Tobacco assessment cessation.
- Depression screening scores.
- Diabetic and coronary artery diseases composite measures.
While the ACO Accreditation program is now retired, NCQA values the work ACOs do and wants to continue to support them in reaching quality goals and cost savings.
Learn more about how practices within your ACO can achieve PCMH Recognition or PCSP Recognition.