IMPORTANCEPostacute care is thought to be a major source of wasteful spending. The extent to which accountable care organizations (ACOs) can limit postacute care spending has implications for the importance and design of other payment models that include postacute care. OBJECTIVE To assess changes in postacute care spending and use of postacute care associated with provider participation as ACOs in the Medicare Shared Savings Program (MSSP) and the pathways by which they occurred. DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS With the use of fee-for-service Medicare claims from a random 20% sample of beneficiaries with 25 544 650 patient-years, 8 395 426 hospital admissions, and 1 595 352 stays in skilled nursing facilities (SNFs) from January 1, 2009, to December 31, 2014, difference-in-difference comparisons of beneficiaries served by ACOs with beneficiaries served by local non-ACO health care professionals (control group) were performed before vs after entry into the MSSP. Differential changes were estimated separately for cohorts of ACOs entering the MSSP in 2012, 2013, and 2014. EXPOSURES Patient attribution to an ACO in the MSSP. MAIN OUTCOMES AND MEASURES Postacute spending, discharge to a facility, length of SNF stays, readmissions, use of highly rated SNFs, and mortality, adjusted for patient characteristics. RESULTS For the 2012 cohort of 114 ACOs, participation in the MSSP was associated with an overall reduction in postacute spending (differential change in 2014 for ACOs vs control

Background: Cardiac amyloidosis is a substantially underdiagnosed disease, and contemporary estimates of the epidemiology of amyloidosis are lacking. This study aims to determine the incidence and prevalence of cardiac amyloidosis among Medicare beneficiaries from 2000 to 2012. Methods and Results: Medicare beneficiaries were counted in the prevalence cohort in each year they had (1) ≥1 principal or secondary International Classification of Diseases , Ninth Revision code for amyloidosis and (2) ≥1 principal or secondary International Classification of Diseases, Ninth Revision code for heart failure or cardiomyopathy within 2 years after the systemic amyloidosis code. A beneficiary was counted in the incidence cohort only during the first year in which they met criteria. Primary outcomes included the prevalence and incidence of hospitalizations for cardiac amyloidosis. There were 4746 incident cases of cardiac amyloidosis in 2012 and 15 737 prevalent cases in 2012. There was also a significant increase in the prevalence rate (8 to 17 per 100 000 person-years) and incidence rate (18 to 55 per 100 000 person-years) from 2000 to 2012, most notable after 2006. Incidence and prevalence increased substantially more among men, the elderly, and in blacks. Conclusions: The incidence and prevalence rates of cardiac amyloidosis are higher than previously thought. The incidence and prevalence rates of cardiac amyloidosis among hospitalized patients have increased since 2000, particularly among specific patient subgroups and after 2006, suggesting improved amyloidosis awareness and higher diagnostic rates with noninvasive imaging. In light of these trends, cardiac amyloidosis should be considered during the initial work up of patients ≥65 years old hospitalized with heart failure.

BackgroundGuidelines recommend continuation or initiation of guideline‐directed medical therapy, including angiotensin‐converting enzyme inhibitors/angiotensin II receptor blockers (ACEi/ARB), in hospitalized patients with heart failure with reduced ejection fraction.Methods and ResultsUsing the Get With The Guidelines‐Heart Failure Registry, we linked clinical data from 16 052 heart failure with reduced ejection fraction (ejection fraction ≤40%) patients with Medicare claims data. We divided ACEi/ARB‐eligible patients into 4 categories based on admission and discharge ACEi/ARB use: continued (reference group), started, discontinued, or not started on therapy. A multivariable Cox proportional hazard model was used to determine the association between ACEi/ARB category and outcomes. Most, 90.5%, were discharged on ACEi/ARB (59.6% continued and 30.9% newly started). Of those discharged without ACEi/ARB, 1.9% were discontinued, and 7.5% were eligible but not started. Thirty‐day mortality was 3.5% for patients continued and 4.1% for patients started on ACEi/ARB. In contrast, 30‐day mortality was 8.8% for patients discontinued (adjusted hazard ratio [HR adj] 1.92; 95% CI 1.32‐2.81; P<0.001) and 7.5% for patients not started (HR adj 1.50; 95% CI 1.12‐2.00; P=0.006). The 30‐day readmission rate was lowest among patients continued or started on therapy. One‐year mortality was 28.2% for patients continued and 29.7% for patients started on ACEi/ARB compared to 41.6% for patients discontinued (HR adj 1.35; 95% CI 1.13‐1.61; P<0.001) and 41.7% (HR adj 1.28; 95% CI 1.14‐1.43; P<0.001) for patients not started on therapy.ConclusionsCompared with continuation, withdrawal of ACEi/ARB during heart failure hospitalization is associated with higher rates of postdischarge mortality and readmission, even after adjustment for severity of illness.