Accountable care organizations were designed to align financial incentives with patient outcomes — but achieving that alignment requires an enormous amount of administrative infrastructure. In 2026, ACOs participating in Medicare Shared Savings Programs and commercial value-based contracts are turning to virtual assistants to manage the quality reporting, billing reconciliation, and care coordination administrative work that determines whether they meet performance benchmarks.
ACO Administrative Demands Have Escalated
Since CMS expanded the Medicare Shared Savings Program (MSSP), ACOs have faced increasingly detailed reporting requirements. The program requires ACOs to submit data on dozens of quality measures spanning preventive care, chronic disease management, patient experience, and utilization patterns. According to CMS, ACOs that meet quality performance thresholds earn higher shared savings rates — making accurate, timely quality reporting a direct financial driver.
At the same time, the administrative complexity of managing a distributed network of independent and affiliated providers — each with separate billing systems, EHRs, and workflows — means that ACO administrators spend significant time on data coordination and reporting that could be handled by trained support staff.
McKinsey & Company has highlighted ACO administrative infrastructure as one of the primary cost centers limiting shared savings distributions to participating providers. Reducing the cost of this infrastructure without sacrificing accuracy is a strategic priority for ACO leadership.
Quality Measure Reporting: A Full-Time Administrative Task
Quality measure reporting for MSSP participation is not a quarterly checkbox — it is an ongoing administrative process that includes:
Data collection and aggregation. Virtual assistants pull quality measure data from provider submissions, EHR exports, and claims feeds, organizing it into the formats required for CMS reporting portals.
Measure gap identification. VAs compare submitted data against benchmark thresholds and flag care gaps — patients overdue for screenings, preventive visits, or chronic disease follow-ups — for outreach by care coordination teams.
Documentation and audit preparation. CMS audits ACO quality submissions periodically. Virtual assistants maintain organized documentation files that support audit readiness, reducing the burden on ACO administrators when audit requests arrive.
Submission deadline tracking. Quality reporting calendars include multiple submission windows and interim reporting periods. VAs manage these calendars, send internal reminders, and confirm submissions are complete and acknowledged by CMS systems.
Shared Savings Billing Reconciliation
Shared savings calculations are complex. ACOs must reconcile attributed beneficiary populations, track utilization benchmarks, and understand how quality performance scores affect their savings rate tier. While actuarial and financial staff handle the analysis, virtual assistants support the administrative work of:
Beneficiary attribution data management. VAs maintain up-to-date records of attributed beneficiaries, tracking changes due to provider transitions or beneficiary disenrollment.
Payer reconciliation documentation. When shared savings distributions arrive from CMS or commercial payers, VAs support reconciliation workflows by matching payment data to performance reports and flagging discrepancies.
Provider reporting packages. ACOs typically share performance data with participating providers on a regular basis. Virtual assistants compile and distribute these reports, ensuring providers have the information they need to improve performance.
ACOs looking for experienced administrative support for quality reporting and shared savings workflows can explore virtual assistant options at Stealth Agents.
Care Coordination Administrative Support
Care coordination is a core ACO function, but much of the supporting administrative work — scheduling care management appointments, sending patient outreach materials, tracking care plan completion, and following up on referral loops — does not require clinical staff. Virtual assistants are increasingly handling these coordination support tasks, allowing nurses and social workers to focus on direct patient interaction.
MGMA research on care coordination efficiency has found that delegating administrative support tasks to non-clinical staff improves care manager productivity and reduces burnout — both significant concerns for ACOs operating in competitive labor markets.
Building an Efficient ACO Infrastructure
ACOs that perform well financially are often those that have built efficient administrative infrastructure. They report quality data accurately and on time. They maintain clean beneficiary attribution records. They distribute performance data to providers promptly. Virtual assistants help ACOs achieve these standards without adding to the overhead costs that reduce shared savings distributions. In 2026, they are becoming a recognized part of the high-performing ACO operating model.
Sources
- CMS. Medicare Shared Savings Program: Quality Reporting and Performance Standards. CMS.gov.
- McKinsey & Company. Value-Based Care Infrastructure and Administrative Efficiency. McKinsey.com.
- MGMA. Care Coordination and Practice Efficiency in Value-Based Models. MGMA.org.