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Committee approves phase‑3 Accountable Care Collaborative funding while limiting assumed savings
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Summary
After debate about projected savings, the Joint Budget Committee approved staff recommendations for the Accountable Care Collaborative (ACC) phase‑3 changes but asked the department to limit assumed first‑year savings and to return with implementation detail; the committee accepted a $5 million assumed savings as a compromise.
Joe Kurtz, Health Care Policy and Financing staff, outlined the department’s R6 request to implement ACC Phase 3, which would increase contractual responsibilities for Regional Accountable Entities (RAEs) to manage transitions of care, practice transformation, centralized credentialing and related items.
Kurtz described several components: (1) additional contract funding to RAEs to perform enhanced transitions‑of‑care coordination; (2) practice transformation supports for smaller providers; (3) centralized credentialing for behavioral‑health providers; (4) an enrollment mailer and implementation costs; and (5) increased CAHPS survey sampling in later years.
Kurtz said the department projects substantial savings from reduced acute utilization driven by better transitions management, citing a North Carolina study; staff recommended recognizing the children’s savings estimate but not the department’s full adult savings projection given uncertainty and overlapping state efforts. Committee members asked for a phased approach and requested that the department return with implementation timelines and clearer evidence about when and how savings would materialize.
Compromise: the committee adopted staff recommendation but also agreed, as a compromise, to assume $5 million of the department’s projected savings in the first year rather than the full $11 million the department estimated. Members asked for a departmental comeback to provide more detail on the adults’ transition‑of‑care savings assumptions, and to define which activities would be prioritized at smaller funding levels.
Action: The committee voted to adopt the staff recommendation for R6 with a $5 million assumed savings figure to be reflected in balancing. The motion passed 5‑1 with Senator Kirk Meyer objecting. The committee asked Health Care Policy and Financing to return with a detailed implementation plan and evidence supporting the savings assumptions.
