MCP practices should consider and begin to plan for a transition to enter the MSSP ACO program for 2026 and choose stable, long-term partners to take control over your VBP future.

1. There are two primary ways to enter the MSSP ACO program for 2026
   1. If you separated from an MSSP ACO in 2024, you could approach it to rejoin
   2. Whether or not you separated from an existing MSSP ACO in 2024, you could form your own new MSSP ACO, or pull in collaborative partners to get to 5,000 attributed Medicare members and form a new MSSP ACO
2. If you choose Option 2, you need to consider the number of Medicare FFS beneficiaries attributed to your practice. The MSSP ACO program requires 5,000 Medicare FFS beneficiaries, while MCP required only 125.
   1. If you have 5,000 by yourself: you cannot apply alone and will need to apply with a partner
   2. If you do not have 5,000: you will need to engage other practices in your geography in order to cover 5,000 beneficiaries in the new ACO
3. Timeline: the MSSP ACO application opens on May 29, with the first submission due on June 12, meaning you need to start working now to prepare for success in 2026

CHS can support you in your MSSP ACO journey through flexible partnership models that provide you with our expertise, analytics and operational support while enabling you to maintain control of the ACO. We are not an aggregator and are dedicated to helping providers establish and sustain their own ACOs with solutions that foster long-term stability and success.

How we can help:

• Application Support: Proven support to complete a successful MSSP application for all application deadlines in 2025 for a 2026 launch – we were successful in supporting a client recently in obtaining one of the first Flex MSSP ACOs
• Tailored Approach by our Subject Matter Experts: Our experts in clinical quality, total cost of care, care management, network contracting and optimization, population health analytics and finance will tailor a successful operating model to your specific situation.
• Optimizing Savings: Forecast expected performance and assess the financial and quality impacts of clinical initiatives, while analyzing any programmatic financial methodology changes and monitoring performance.
• VBC Analytics: Market leading population health analytics, 2-way EMR integration and care management tool, Analytics for Risk Contracting (ARC):
  • Forecasts benchmarks, analyzes spending patterns and identifies cost and utilization drivers
  • Generates performance reports and physician gap to goal dashboards
  • Serves as a wrap around care management, quality and clinical documentation gap closure system – integrated with your EMR and local HIE

Contact our experts Allen Miller at amiller@copehealthsolutions.com or Steven Hefter shefter@copehealthsolutions.com for more information.