Oak Street Health Achieves Highest Net Savings of Any Direct Contracting Entity in 2021
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Oak Street Health (NYSE:OSH), a network of value-based primary care centers for adults on Medicare and the only primary care provider to carry the AARP name, today announced that the company achieved the highest net savings out of 53 Direct Contracting Entities (DCEs) in the Global and Professional Direct Contracting (GPDC) Model for the 2021 performance year, while earning the highest possible quality score of 100%. Oak Street Health also achieved the second-highest net savings rate at 15.47% and third highest gross savings rate at 17.78%. This achievement represents a nearly 12 times greater net savings rate than the GPDC model as a whole. In 2021, 100% of Oak Street Health's beneficiaries in the GPDC Model were located in areas designated by the government as medically underserved, mental health provider shortage areas, or both.
"The direct contracting model was designed to test whether a value-based model could work inside of traditional Medicare, and whether giving providers like Oak Street the space to provide extra wraparound services would result in better care at lower costs," said Mike Pykosz, Chief Executive Officer of Oak Street Health "Our exceptional 2021 performance year results clearly demonstrate that value-based care can work for beneficiaries in the traditional, public Medicare program and we are proud to be leading the way in this transformation."
The GPDC Model was designed by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) to provide new opportunities for a variety of different health care organizations and provider practices to participate in value-based care arrangements in Original Medicare. In Performance Year 2021, the model generated approximately $70 million in net savings for Medicare, with 38 of 53 DCEs earning shared savings.
To reflect priority goals around health equity, CMS recently redesigned the GPDC program and renamed the model the ACO Realizing Equity, Access, and Community Health (REACH) Model. ACO REACH is the first payment model in U.S. history to explicitly require participants to develop and implement a robust health equity plan.
Oak Street Health has built its entire model around bringing high-quality primary care to communities where it is needed most. Because of their value-based design, the GPDC and, now, the ACO REACH models are helping drive resources to areas with otherwise limited access to care, and are enabling providers like Oak Street Health to screen, identify, and care for patients with the highest needs, including those with multiple chronic conditions, behavioral health needs, and who experience additional social challenges, such as food and housing insecurity.
"Oak Street Health's achievements in the 2021 GPDC performance year are a reflection of what's possible when you give providers the time, space, and resources to focus on patient care," said Dr. Ali Khan, Chief Medical Officer, Value-Based Care Strategy of Oak Street Health. "Our model has always been centered on bringing high-quality care to places the traditional health care system has left behind, and we are incredibly encouraged that the new ACO REACH model is designed to support that work."
The high performance of Oak Street Health in the 2021 GPDC Model comes on the heels of the organization's 2020 results in the Medicare Shared Savings Program in which it was the 4th highest overall saver of 513 organizations.
About Oak Street Health
Founded in 2012, Oak Street Health is a network of value-based primary care centers for adults on Medicare. With a mission of rebuilding healthcare as it should be, the Company operates an innovative healthcare model focused on quality of care over volume of services, and assumes the full financial risk of its patients. Oak Street Health currently operates more than 160 centers across 21 states and is the only primary care provider to carry the AARP name. The Company is a winner of Energage's 2022 Top Workplaces USA award, was recognized by Inc. on its inaugural Best-Led Companies of 2021 list and was honored as a recipient of the 2022 and 2021 Joy in Medicine™ Health System Recognition Program by the American Medical Association. To learn more about Oak Street Health's proven approach to care, visit oakstreethealth.com or read its Social Impact Report.
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