In a late and quiet announcement, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has announced 123 new Medicare Shared Savings Program Accountable Care Organizations (ACOs), to begin operations next week, on January 1, 2014. According to CMS, these new ACOs operating in 40 states and the District of Columbia will bring an additional 1.5 million Medicare beneficiaries into Medicare ACOs, resulting in over 5.3 million Medicare beneficiaries in over 360 ACOs.
These ACOs are authorized under section 3022 of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.