• This page, Capacity Building for Accountable Care Organizations, Community Partners, and Providers , is   offered by
  • MassHealth

Capacity Building for Accountable Care Organizations, Community Partners, and Providers

This category of Statewide Investments focusses on Accountable Care Organization (ACO), Community Partner (CP), and provider capacity to successfully participate in value-based payment. These investments include a technical assistance program with opportunities for direct support and peer learning, as well as a grant program to bolster existing provider efforts to participate in MassHealth payment reform. Information about each program, including awardees, can be found below.

Table of Contents

Providers working.

Technical Assistance Program: Targeted TA for ACOs and CPs (SWI 5a)

MassHealth’s Technical Assistance (TA) Program supports ACOs and CPs in their efforts to reduce total cost of care and improve MassHealth member health outcomes and experience.

The TA program will provide funding to each ACO and CP that can be used to obtain direct TA support for discrete, time-limited projects. ACOs and CPs can choose from a catalog of TA vendors with expertise across several domains of work, including care coordination, consumer engagement, and community-based care integration.  

MassHealth is working with Abt Associates to administer this program. MassHealth anticipates investing approximately $7.8 million in Direct TA Support in the first year available, with additional investments in each of the subsequent four years of the DSRIP program.

More information, including a list of TA vendors, can be found on the Massachusetts Delivery System Reform Incentive Payment Technical Assistance (MA DSRIP TA) Marketplace website.

Technical Assistance Program: Learning Collaboratives (SWI 5b)

MassHealth’s Technical Assistance (TA) Program supports ACOs and CPs in their efforts to reduce total cost of care and improve MassHealth member health outcomes and experience.

The TA Program will host forums for ACOs and CPs to learn from one another’s action-oriented, tangible strategies and novel approaches to providing integrated, value-based care.

These forums include: a learning collaborative focused on supporting ACO and CP integration; learning communities that provide ongoing training for extended healthcare workers; and a series of mini-conferences that explore topics related to accountable care.

MassHealth will engage vendors with content area expertise and experience with shared learning to design and manage these forums, and will partner with Abt Associates to administer them. MassHealth anticipates investing approximately $725,000 in these programs in year one of the five year period of the DSRIP program. More information can be found on the Massachusetts Delivery System Reform Incentive Payment Technical Assistance (MA DSRIP TA) Marketplace website.

MassHealth is also administering a collaborative tailored specifically to supporting Community Health Centers’ transition to value-based payment. MassHealth is working with the Massachusetts League of Community Health Centers to administer this program.

MassHealth anticipates investing $1 million in this program in year one, and $5 million total over the five year period of the DSRIP program. More information can be found here.

ACO/CP Integration Learning Collaborative:  Center for Health Care Strategies, Inc.

Community Health Worker and Peer Specialist Learning Collaborative:  Health Resources in Action

Statewide Investment Pop-Ups: Check back for more information once vendors are selected.

MassHealth anticipates investing more than $5 million in these programs.

Technical Assistance Program: Standardized Trainings for CPs and CSAs (SWI 5c)

MassHealth’s Technical Assistance (TA) Program supports ACOs and CPs in their efforts to reduce total cost of care and improve MassHealth member health outcomes and experience.

The TA Program supports the development of online standardized training modules for CPs and Community Service Agencies (CSAs) to learn about new ACOs and Managed Care Organizations and long term services and supports, and their roles in these programs.

MassHealth anticipates investing approximately $165,000 in these modules in the first year of the DSRIP program, with additional investments to be made as needed over the next four years.

More information can be found on the Massachusetts Delivery System Reform Incentive Payment Technical Assistance (MA DSRIP TA) Marketplace website.

MassHealth anticipates investing $165,000 in these modules in the first year of DSRIP.

Alternative Payment Methods Preparation Fund (SWI 6)

MassHealth’s Alterative Payment Methods (APM) Preparation Fund supports providers that are not yet ready to participate in an APM but that want to prepare themselves to participate.

During the first year, MassHealth awarded one-year grants to primary care organizations to complete projects that will help support them to be better prepared to join a MassHealth ACO.

Program Data
Application Release Date March 19, 2018
Application Deadline April 27, 2018
Applications Received 10
Applications Awarded 5
Total Amount Awarded $2.2 million

APM Preparation Fund Awardees:

  • Baystate Medical Practices
  • Community Health Connections, Inc.
  • Harrington HealthSystem Physician Organization
  • Pediatric Physicians’ Organization at Children’s
  • Springfield Health Services for the Homeless Health Center

Contact   for Capacity Building for Accountable Care Organizations, Community Partners, and Providers

Help Us Improve Mass.gov  with your feedback

Please do not include personal or contact information.
Feedback