Medicare’s Next Generation Accountable Care Organization model saved taxpayers $62 million in 2016, or 1.1 percent of the spending of the participating organizations, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services has announced.

The program also reduced hospitalizations 1.3 percent.

In all, 18 organizations participated in the model program in 2016.  Among them, four organizations accounted for more than half of the savings.

In 2015, 45 organizations participated in the model and 51 are participating this year.  Under the Next Generation ACO model, participants assume greater financial risk for their performance than under other Medicare models but also are eligible to gain a greater proportion of the savings they produce.

Learn more about performance under the Medicare Next Generation ACO model from this CMS news release, this summary of program highlights, and the full CMS report on 2016 program performance.