Monitoring the birth of an industry
On November 30th, 2010 at 10:00 AM Pacific and 1:00 PM Eastern, ‘ACO Watch’ will launch a weekly round-up of action in the emerging Accountable Care Organization (ACO) ‘tsunami’. As the volume of activity builds in anticipation of the January 2012 ‘go live’ date, we will summarize, vet, and comment on the activities of the …
Continue reading “Inaugural Program Scheduled: ACO Watch – A Mid Week Review of the Market”
Tony Miller, for HealthLeaders Media The Accountable Care Organization model presents extraordinary opportunities. It promises to move Medicare and potentially other payers from traditional, volume-driven, inherently inefficient, and counter-productive fee-for-service financing to a value-driven, patient-centric approach to payment and care delivery. And unlike a multitude of other reform initiatives affecting care delivery and payment, the …
Donald M. Berwick Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services This document is a request for comments regarding certain aspects of the policies and standards that will apply to accountable care organizations (ACOs) participating in the Medicare program under section 3021 or 3022 of the Affordable Care Act. Comment Date: To be assured consideration, comments must …
Donald Berwick submitted testimony: To watch the hearing click here. Chairman Baucus, Ranking Member Grassley, and Members of the Committee; thank you for the opportunity to appear before you to discuss ways to strengthen Medicare and Medicaid and modernize America’s health care delivery system. The Affordable Care Act, passed by Congress and signed into law …
Francisco Silva Guiding principle – The goal of an accountable care organization (ACO) is to increase access to care, improve the quality of care and ensure the efficient delivery of care. Within an ACO, a physician’s primary ethical and professional obligation is the well-being and safety of the patient. ACO governance – ACOs must be …
Alston & Bird LLP On October 19, 2010, the National Committee for Quality Assurance (NCQA) released its draft 2011 Accountable Care Organizations (ACO) criteria for public comment. NCQA’s mission is to improve health care quality through its activities, such as accrediting and certifying health care organizations and recognizing clinicians and practices in key areas of performance. …
Continue reading “NCQA ACO Comment Period Deadline Looming: 11.19.10”
The impending rise of Accountable Care Organizations (ACOs) as market participants, and their apparent autonomy from an ‘institutional partner’ perspective, whether of the clinical or licensing (i.e., payor) variety, is no doubt raising concerns in certain sectors. Clearly the guidance to date, which enables ACO anointing absent a hospital partner is causing some hospital CEOs, and/or their parent systems, …
Gregg Masters, MPH Since we now find ourselves at the gateway of resurgent if not soon to be robust exploratory conversations between hospitals, their medical staffs, the broader private medical community and the likely joint venture entities to implement any collaborative vision, this time under the aegis of Accountable Care Organization (ACO) incentives, I thought …
Continue reading “Extracting the ‘H’ from P/H/O: The Anatomy of One Unwinding”
Thomas H. Lee, M.D., Lawrence P. Casalino, M.D., Ph.D., Elliott S. Fisher, M.D., M.P.H., and Gail R. Wilensky, Ph.D. N Engl J Med 2010; 363:e23 Introduction Under the Affordable Care Act, Medicare will launch a Shared Savings Program for groups of health care providers that join forces, with or without hospitals or health plans, to …
Continue reading “Creating Accountable Care Organizations: A NEJM Roundtable”
The Integrated Healthcare Association has released a timely and insightful White Paper titled ‘Accountable Care Organizations in California: Lessons for the National Debate on Delivery System Reform‘. California has 285 physician organizations with many of the characteristics described in the national debate, and its experiences with these organizations over the past thirty years, both positive …
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