Broward Guardian Ranks 1 for Shared Savings Per Beneficiary Among ACOs Owned by Healthcare Systems

Recently, the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) released the results of all ACO’s performance in the Medicare Shared Savings Program (MSSP). In this latest reconciliation for performance year 2021, Broward Guardian ACO, which was purchased by Memorial Healthcare System (“Memorial”) in May of 2020, had the highest savings per beneficiary than any other high revenue (or health-system owned) ACO in the nation in the MSSP program.

Broward Guardian has achieved a cumulative $36 million in shared savings since its inception in 2014 while caring for close to 9,000 beneficiaries. For the most recent program year of 2021, Broward Guardian achieved more than $11 million in savings in the program of which they received more than $8 million.

“These results were accomplished through the enhanced coordination of care among a vibrant and dedicated community-wide network of primary care and specialty physicians supported by a very robust team of professionals and technology resources housed in Memorial’s value-based care division,” said Matthew Muhart, Memorial’s Executive Vice President and Chief Strategy Officer. “Working together, we provide not only the chronic condition management many Medicare beneficiaries need, but the sorely needed navigation to care and other services, such as support for socioeconomic needs, which are often barriers to accessing care, and are necessary for keeping a population healthy.”

Since the purchase in 2020, Memorial has invested in technology, infrastructure, analytics and numerous clinical resources for Broward Guardian to improve the health of the populations in the communities they serve and to reduce the total cost of care by helping patients receive the right care at the right time and in the right setting.

“The deployment of these resources across all of our value based care programs including Broward Guardian, Memorial Health Network-our commercial ACO managing approximately 200,000 members, our participation in approximately 20 bundle payment programs under Medicare’s BPCI-A program and our co-branded Medicare Advantage Health Plan with Holy Cross Health and Oscar are producing incredible results, improving people’s health and making the cost of healthcare more efficient” said Monica Puga, senior vice president and chief nursing executive.

There are close to 800 primary and specialty providers in the Broward Guardian ACO. Providers that have partnered with Memorial in this value-based care journey. At the top level, Memorial is committed to care transformation, technology enablement and innovation to support growth in the ACO.

Broward Guardian ACO performance depends on the innovative, technology-based clinical support and the collaboration among physicians, specialists and clinical operations which collectively have resulted in optimized clinical, quality and financial outcomes.

“It is clear to us that our stakeholders; our patients and their families, the employers in our community, our physicians, and our commercial and governmental payers are expecting more from us—improving the health of our community and becoming more cost efficient. These results validate Memorial is the leading the way in South Florida,” Muhart said.

About Broward Guardian

Acquired by Memorial Healthcare System in 2020, Broward Guardian was first formed in 2013 as a primary care focused organization and began as a Track 1 ACO in 2014 in the Medicare Shared Savings Program. Broward Guardian advanced to a Track 3 ACO in the Medicare Shared Savings Program in 2017 and is currently in the Enhanced track. Currently, there are 39 ACO participants and 795 ACO providers and suppliers with approximately 9,000 Medicare beneficiaries attributed to Broward Guardian ACO.