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Medicare is the federal health insurance program created in 1965 for people ages 65 and over, regardless of income, medical history, or health status. The program was expanded in 1972 to cover certain people under age 65 who have a long-term disability. Today, Medicare plays a key role in providing health and financial security to 60 million older people and younger people with disabilities. The program helps to pay for many medical care services, including hospitalizations, physician visits, prescription drugs, preventive services, skilled nursing facility and home health care, and hospice care. Learn more from the Kaiser Family Foundation at the page linked here.

Accountable Care Organizations (ACOs) are groups of doctors, hospitals, and other health care providers, who come together voluntarily to give coordinated high quality care to the Medicare patients they serve. Coordinated care helps ensure that patients, especially the chronically ill, get the right care at the right time, with the goal of avoiding unnecessary duplication of services and preventing medical errors. When an ACO succeeds in both delivering high-quality care and spending health care dollars more wisely, it will share in the savings it achieves for the Medicare program. Read more about ACOs in CMS's webpage offering general information.

The Bundled Payments for Care Improvement Advanced (BPCI Advanced) Model is a new iteration of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) and the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation (Innovation Center) continuing efforts in implementing voluntary episode payment models. The Model aims to support healthcare providers who invest in practice innovation and care redesign to better coordinate care and reduce expenditures, while improving the quality of care for Medicare beneficiaries. BPCI Advanced qualifies as an Advanced Alternative Payment Model (APM) under the Quality Payment Program. Read more at CMS, linked here.

The Bundled Payments for Care Improvement (BPCI) initiative was comprised of four broadly defined models of care, which linked payments for the multiple services beneficiaries received during an episode of care. Under the initiative, organizations entered into payment arrangements that included financial and performance accountability for episodes of care. These models aimed to increase quality and care coordination at a lower cost to Medicare. For results of these models, please see the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services' report linked here.