PGP project pays million in incentives, saves Medicare millions

A five-year health IT-supported Medicare demonstration project that helped shape the accountable care organization model being promoted has shown what government officials say is significant improvement in care, while also saving Medicare millions of dollars. Four of the 10 participating physician groups will receive incentive payments of $29.4 million (from total savings to Medicare of $36.2 million). Over the five years of the demonstration, Medicare has paid $110 million in incentives to seven of the PGP participants. The incentive payments reward the PGP participants for both the savings they have achieved for the Medicare program, as well as quality improvements that have resulted in not only better health, but also a better experience of care for patients, according to CMS. All 10 groups in the Physician Group Practice (PGP) project have agreed to continue in a new PGP Transition Demonstration, a two-year supplement to the original pilot.