No. 1 among MSSP ACOs focused on long-term care and facility-based beneficiaries
NASHVILLE, TENNESSEE / ACCESS Newswire / October 2, 2025 / Sound Long-Term Care Management (SLTCM), an accountable care organization (ACO) within Sound Physicians, saved Medicare $113,985.433 last year in total shared savings under the Medicare Shared Savings Program (MSSP), according to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) data released on Sept. 29.† SLTCM ranked No. 1 among MSSP ACOs focused on long-term care and facility-based beneficiaries, reflecting the organization's commitment to providing high-quality, cost-effective care for one of Medicare's most complex patient populations: people living in long-term care and assisted-living settings.
"Our ACO continues to put Medicare's most vulnerable and medically complex populations at the center of everything we do," said Mike Camacho, President, SLTCM. "By bringing together clinical expertise, strong facility partnerships, advanced analytics, and technology, we're not only improving quality of care but also delivering the highest level of savings among long-term care ACOs nationwide."
Clinical improvements
In its second year of performance, SLTCM saw‡:
Emergency department visits decreased by 7.6%
Short-term hospitalizations decreased by 13.3%
Emergency department visits leading to hospitalization decreased by 13.8%
How SLTCM was successful this year
From the beginning, SLTCM's blueprint has emphasized using analytics to facilitate early intervention, coordinating care through its dedicated clinical team, and aligning with providers on coverage and goals. Consistent focus on three key areas contributed to SLTCM's continued success:
Data-driven support. SLTCM used advanced analytics to identify vulnerable patients and facilitate earlier intervention-before avoidable hospitalizations and complications occurred-through annual wellness visits, post-discharge follow-ups from acute-care settings, and targeted review of outlier performance and utilization.
Care coordination at scale. SLTCM expanded its interdisciplinary care coordination team with dedicated quality improvement nurses (QINs) and strengthened transitions across inpatient, outpatient, and post-acute settings, including through telemedicine.
Provider engagement. SLTCM aligned clinical workflows-including annual wellness visits and in-facility telemedicine to provide night, weekend, and holiday clinical coverage-clinical goals, shared real-time performance data, and fostered a culture of accountability and collaboration across its network.
"Our commitment to supporting providers and facilities in the long-term care setting is transforming how we provide care for older adults with high needs," said Tom Kim, MD, Chief Medical Officer, SLTCM. "These results reinforce that a clinician-led, collaborative approach can create measurable improvements in outcomes and make meaningful differences in the lives of our patients."
Who SLTCM serves
Medicare beneficiaries in SLTCM are more likely to:
Experience more chronic conditions
Receive end-of-life care
Encounter financial hardship
Receive care in facility settings
Require surrogate or family support for medical decision-making
As part of Sound Physicians, a national, clinician-led medical group, SLTCM brings local teams the tools and support they need to provide better care and thrive in value-based programs.
About Sound Long-Term Care Management, a Sound Physicians ACO?
Sound Physicians Long-Term Care Management (SLTCM) is a Medicare Shared Savings Program ACO focused exclusively on Medicare beneficiaries living in long-term care and assisted living facilities. With a dedicated clinical team led by physicians-and deep roots in value-based care cultivated over more than two decades-SLTCM's aim is to support its partners in providing uncompromising care to patients while enhancing financial performance. We invest deeply in our people, partners, and technology-including telemedicine-to ensure we connect patients with the care they need and deserve.
About Sound Physicians
As a physician-founded and -led medical group, our priority is building lasting partnerships with hospitals and health systems to ensure every patient receives the care they need-and deserve. Shaped over two-plus decades by clinical excellence and well-honed business acumen, we're proud to have more than 4,000 clinicians serving across emergency and hospital medicine, critical care, and anesthesia. Through these specialties, we touch the lives of millions of patients each year in local communities across 45 states. We also support the health and well-being of tens of thousands of long-term care and assisted living facility residents, some of the most vulnerable patients, through our accountable care organization. From addressing universal challenges to unique community needs, we help our partners and clinical teams thrive today and well into the future.
† Final CY2024 results as of Sept. 29, 2025, compared with final CY2023 results.
‡ Data sources: Medicare fee-for-service claims data and SLTCM internal analytics; values rounded to one decimal place. Final performance results subject to CMS' release of final report package.
Contact Information
Anni Lange
Senior Vice President of Marketing
alange@soundphysicians.com
SOURCE: Sound Physicians
View the original press release on ACCESS Newswire:
https://www.accessnewswire.com/newsroom/en/healthcare-and-pharmaceutical/sound-physicians-aco-delivers-nearly-114-million-total-savings-in-202-1080963
