Research Alert: November 30, 2016

Spread of Accountable Care Organizations in Rural America

This policy brief updates a RUPRI Center analysis of the presence of Medicare ACO's in rural areas of the United States in 2013. Using participation data through 2015, the current brief finds that there has been broad growth in the number of places where ACO participating providers can be found. Rural interest in the ACO model is strong, with participating providers found in 41.8% of non-metropolitan counties. A recent CMS fact sheet reported that 65 (15 percent) of Medicare ACOs included at least one participating Rural Health Clinic, and 55 (13 percent) included at least one participating Critical Access Hospital. Clearly, there is rural interest in the ACO program and CMS initiatives like the ACO Investment Model (AIM) – designed to encourage the formation of new ACOs in rural and underserved areas – will enhance the level of interest.

Additional Resources of Interest:

• More information about the RUPRI Center for Rural Health Policy Analysis
• More information from the Rural Health Information Hub's topic guides: Finding Statistics and Data, Rural Health Policy