ACO Assignment Improvement Act of 2025

ACO Assignment Improvement Act of 2025

This bill establishes additional requirements for assigning Medicare fee-for-service beneficiaries to accountable care organizations (ACOs) under the Medicare shared savings program. Under current law, the program enables ACOs to receive payments for savings stemming from care coordination and management.

The bill requires the basis for assignment to reflect beneficiaries' utilization of not only primary care services provided by ACO physicians, but also those provided by other ACO practitioners—specifically, physician assistants, nurse practitioners, and clinical nurse specialists.

[Congressional Bills 119th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 3350 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

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119th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                S. 3350

  To amend title XVIII of the Social Security Act to improve the way 
beneficiaries are assigned under the Medicare shared savings program by 
also basing such assignment on primary care services furnished by nurse 
  practitioners, physician assistants, and clinical nurse specialists.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                            December 4, 2025

Mr. Barrasso (for himself and Mr. Whitehouse) introduced the following 
  bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Finance

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
  To amend title XVIII of the Social Security Act to improve the way 
beneficiaries are assigned under the Medicare shared savings program by 
also basing such assignment on primary care services furnished by nurse 
  practitioners, physician assistants, and clinical nurse specialists.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``ACO Assignment Improvement Act of 
2025''.

SEC. 2. IMPROVEMENTS TO THE ASSIGNMENT OF BENEFICIARIES UNDER THE 
              MEDICARE SHARED SAVINGS PROGRAM.

    Section 1899(c)(1) of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 
1395jjj(c)(1)) is amended--
            (1) in subparagraph (A), by striking ``and'' at the end;
            (2) in subparagraph (B), by striking the period at the end 
        and inserting ``; and''; and
            (3) by adding at the end the following new subparagraph:
                    ``(C) in the case of performance years beginning on 
                or after January 1, 2026, primary care services 
                provided under this title by an ACO professional 
                described in subsection (h)(1)(B).''.
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