Community Care Cooperative Awarded Medicare Shared Savings Program Contract from CMS, Expands Network to FQHCs in NC, D.C., CT, and CA

BOSTON – Community Care Cooperative (C3), the Accountable Care Organization (ACO) created and governed by Federally Qualified Health Centers (FQHCs), has been awarded a Medicare Shared Savings Program (MSSP) contract from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS). The MSSP is a value-based care model that aligns with C3’s commitment to advancing health equity, moderating costs, and improving outcomes for members.

“At Unity Health Care, we have the privilege of serving nearly 90,000 patients annually in the District each year”

With today’s award, C3 expands its national footprint, which now includes FQHCs in California, North Carolina, the District of Columbia, and Connecticut, as well as continued expansion in Massachusetts where C3 was founded. C3 will serve approximately 23,000 Medicare patients under the new agreement.

C3’s strategy is to unite FQHCs at scale to strengthen primary care, improve financial performance, and advance racial justice. Expanding C3’s work beyond Massachusetts to support FQHCs across the country is an exciting opportunity for C3 to pursue its mission on a larger scale. For these FQHCs (many of which are new to Medicare ACO contracting), partnering with C3 allows them to benefit from C3’s highly effective model of care, years of experience operating an extraordinarily successful FQHC-led ACO, and community of like-minded FQHC leadership teams.

The new FQHCs are:

• California’s Asian Health Services, Axis Community Health, Bay Area Community Health, La Clínica de La Raza, LifeLong Medical Care, Native American Health Center, Tiburcio Vasquez Health Center, and the West Oakland Health Center.
• The District of Columbia’s Community of Hope, Family and Medical Counseling Services, Inc., Mary’s Center, Unity Health Care, and Whitman-Walker Health.
• North Carolina’s Appalachian District Health Department, Piedmont Health Services, Inc., and Robeson Health Care Corporation.
• Connecticut’s Moses/Weitzman Health System.
• Massachusetts’ Greater Lawrence Community Health Center and Hilltown Community Health Center.

“We are thrilled at this milestone – both joining the MSSP and significantly expanding our work across the country,” said Christina Severin, CEO of C3. “MSSP has proven to generate savings and improved care for Medicare members, especially when the MSSP ACO is comprised of ambulatory care providers like FQHCs. We believe (and have proven, through our years of success in Medicaid and Medicare) that FQHCs are not only capable of entering advanced value-based payment models but are uniquely positioned to excel in those models with the right support. It is an honor to be able to provide those supports to our growing community of FQHCs.”

C3 provides FQHCs with the tools and services needed to remain competitive in the ever-changing market landscape of value-based care – including value-based contracting, practice transformation, analytics, population health programs, quality and risk adjustment expertise and services. FQHCs have been shown to deliver high quality, patient centered care that reduces total medical expenditures, and C3’s goal is to facilitate their success in the new value-based health care landscape.

“The Greater Lawrence Family Health Center (GLFHC) serves a majority-Latina/o population in Massachusetts where the fastest growing demographic is over 65 years of age,” said Guy Fish CEO of Greater Lawrence Family Health Center. “We are thrilled to join our proven partner C3, in a proven MSSP program, to deliver the high-quality care and services our seniors deserve.”

“At Unity Health Care, we have the privilege of serving nearly 90,000 patients annually in the District each year,” said Jessica Boyd, CEO of Unity Health Care. “We are excited to be part of Community Care Cooperative’s national network expansion as we know a strong partnership with C3 and several other FQHCs in the District and across the country help us continue to improve outcomes for our patients and advance work to move towards high value healthcare.”

Community Care Cooperative (C3) is a 501(c)(3) Accountable Care Organization (ACO) that leverages the proven best practices of ACOs throughout the country and is the only ACO in Massachusetts founded and governed by Federally Qualified Health Centers and exclusively focused on advancing integrated and coordinated community-based care for Medicaid and Medicare members. C3 works to strengthen health centers across the state, and continued growth enables C3 to better serve patients that receive care at its health centers across the country To view a list of C3 health centers, click here.

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The statements contained in this document are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views or policies of CMS. The authors assume responsibility for the accuracy and completeness of the information contained in this document.