Are ACO’s Good or Bad for Competition?

By Naveen aka @naveen101 Earlier this week, I sat in on a roundtable discussion of health insurance plan CEO’s from around the country. The topic jumped from Medicare Advantage bonus payments to general quality improvement, to the insurance industry’s perception by Joe Q. Public, and of course, what role health plans will end up playing in …

The Future of Accountable Care Organizations (ACOs): An Interview with Bill DeMarco

By Richard L. Reece, MD What follows is an interview with Bill DeMarco, a health care consultant for more than 30 years and an advisor on Accountable Care Organizations (ACOs). The subject of Accountable Care Organizations (ACOs) accounted for only 10 pages of the 2500 page health reform bill. Yet ACOs are now the buzz, …

An ACO Watch: Mid-Week Review ‘Mea Culpa’!

The brodcast today on ACO Watch: A Mid-Week Review was a, well, d/i/s/a/s/t/e/r: Per Wikipedia: A disaster is a natural or man-made hazard that has come to fruition, resulting in an event of substantial extent causing significant physical damage or destruction, loss of life, or drastic change to the natural environment. A disaster can be …

ACO Watch: A Mid-Week Review

Tomorrow, January 26th, 2011 we’ll review headlines in the ACO market, and focus specifically on the cultural antecedents and pathways for engaging ‘independent physician’ participation in ACOs. Other than mature IDN’s such as Mayo, Kaiser and Geisinger, et al, who have risen to the head of the class when discussing ACO potential, there is a second tier of …

The Importance of The Shared-Savings ACO Model

By Ron Klar Certainly no Medicare provision of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) has generated more interest among health care providers, policy analysts, and consultants than the Medicare Shared Savings Program (MSSP) for accountable care organizations (ACOs).  Because there are so many design elements for which the Secretary of Health and Human Services must “determine”, …

More Accountable Care Organization Conference Notes: No Faux ACOs Here!

By Jaan E. Sidorov, MD, MHSA, FACP After a second and equally rewarding day at the Opal Summit, the Disease Management Care Blog has decamped from Austin Hyatt Hotel venue armed with additional Accountable Care Organization insights. In yesterday’s post, the DMCB mentioned that it discovered there already are a host of ACO-like legal organizations …

ACOs and the Shared Savings Program: Some Common Misconceptions

by Reed Tinsley, CPA Section 3022 of the Patient Protection and Accountable Care Act (the Act) creates the Shared Savings Program for Medicare. Under the Shared Savings Program, which is to take effect no later than Jan. 1, 2012, Accountable Care Organizations (ACOs) that meet certain requirements established by the Secretary of Health and Human …

How To Get Independent Physicians Into An Accountable Care Organization? Lessons Courtesy of One Large System

By Jaan E. Sidorov, MD, MHSA, FACP The folks at Advocate Physician Partners (APP) argue that they’re a national model for Accountable Care Organization (ACO) wannabes. They’re saying that because they assert that they’ve figured how to out how to “Integrate Independent Physicians.” The intrigued Disease Management Care Blog first got a close look at …

While We Wait for CMS Guidance on ACO’s

Medicare “Accountable Care Organizations” | Shared Savings Program | New Section 1899 of Title XVIII | Preliminary Questions & Answers The Affordable Care Act (ACA) improves the health care delivery system through incentives to enhance quality, improve beneficiary outcomes and increase value of care.  One of these key delivery system reforms is the encouragement of Accountable Care …

Accountable Care Organizations, Explained

by Jenny Gold As the House begins debate today on an effort to repeal the health care law, we took a closer look at one of the provisions of the law that health care providers are talking about the most — accountable care organizations. ACOs take up only seven pages of the massive new health …