NAACOS Applauds House Ways & Means Committee for Advancing Burden Reduction for ACOs in Markup

WASHINGTON (September 16, 2025) – The National Association of ACOs (NAACOS) commends the House Ways & Means Committee for advancing the Health Care Efficiency Through Flexibility Act (H.R. 5347), which eases the regulatory burden on accountable care organizations (ACOs) while preserving the focus on improving patient care.

Digital quality measurement has great potential to advance population health by enabling seamless, real-time performance tracking. Yet the current pathway is complex, costly, and overly burdensome. This legislation responds directly to concerns raised by NAACOS members by requiring the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) to pilot test new digital reporting methods while maintaining current reporting options during the transition. By reducing reporting burdens, providers can focus resources on care delivery innovation rather than compliance.

ACOs continue to demonstrate their value—improving care quality, enhancing patient outcomes, and lowering overall costs. Since 2012, ACOs have saved Medicare nearly $34 billion and now serve more than half of all people in traditional Medicare. Sustaining this momentum requires ongoing Congressional support for alternative payment models (APMs), including extending incentive payments and adjusting qualifying thresholds so clinicians are not forced back into the costly and burdensome Merit-based Incentive Payment System (MIPS).

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The National Association of Accountable Care Organizations (NAACOS) is a member-led, member-governed nonprofit of nearly 500 ACOs and value-based care entities in Medicare, Medicaid, and commercial insurance working on behalf of physicians, health systems, and other providers across the nation. These value-based care providers seek to improve the quality of care while reducing costs. NAACOS represents more than 9 million beneficiary lives through Medicare’s population health-focused payment and delivery models.