Universal American, a publicly traded insurer that operates 34 Medicare accountable care organizations, announced it will no longer finance ACOs it sees as having little hope of a financial return.
Universal contracts with local physicians across 13 states to operate its Shared Savings ACOs, nearly 10% of the ACOs in that program. “We just want to stop the bleeding,” said Robert Waegelein, Universal's president.
Universal invested $63 million through last December in Medicare ACOs. The company's first-quarter ACO investment of $13.1 million was a drag on its earnings, analysts said.