CMS this week released performance data for the Pioneer and Shared Savings Medicare ACO programs. Two healthsprocket lists just posted provide a summary of this information: 7 Things to Know about 2014 Pioneer ACO Performance and 6 Things to Know about 2014 MSSP ACO Performance.

Banner Health Network, one of the participating Pioneer ACOs reported 2014 results were their best-ever of their three years under the Pioneer model. Banner returned more than $29 million in savings over the predicted financial benchmark, while at the same time improving its quality score by nearly 10 percent over the previous year. Lisa Stevens Anderson, BHN's chief executive officer said they were "fortunate to have engaged, high-performing providers; enabling information technology and an infrastructure that surrounds beneficiaries in need with the clinical and personal support that can impact their health outcomes. She also credited introduction of a telehealth program called Banner iCare, the development of an affiliated post-acute care network and a continued focus on case management and care coordination.

Collaborative Health Systems (CHS), a Universal American company and the largest single MSSP ACO participant, announced that the nine of the 23 ACOs that it formed in partnership with local physicians earned $27 million in shared savings for 2014., compared to 3 that generated savings in 2013. CHS 23 ACOs include over 4,300 participating physicians serving more than 270,000 Medicare Fee-for-Service beneficiaries. CHS noted that in addition to the 9 ACOs qualifying for shared savings, :8 additional ACOs achieved savings but did qualify for payments as they not exceed the Minimum Savings Rate (MSR). Of those eight, four missed the MSR by less than 1%.