By Cynthia Grau/WJEZ News

OSF Healthcare has been selected to participate in the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services new accountable care organization model.

This new program is called the Next Generation ACO Model. It is a part of the Department of Health and Human Services’ effort to create opportunities for providers to move an increasing percentage of Medicare payments into models paying providers based on the quality rather than the quantity of care provided.

OSF HealthCare and the 20 other participants represent a variety of provider organizations and geographic regions and were selected through an open and competitive process from a large applicant pool, which had to fulfill specific eligibility criteria.