The ACO Proposed Rule: A [Skeptical] View From ‘The Street’

By Sheryl R. Skolnick, Ph.D, and Nick Leventis A first glance at proposed Medicare ACO Rule:  What are we missing? One of the most eagerly awaited proposed regulations under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) as amended (health reform), has been the rule that would define and regulate Accountable Care Organizations, i.e., patient-centered …

ACO Roundtable | On ACO Watch: A Mid-Week Review

On Friday April 1st, 2011 (yes, ‘April Fools day’) at 4PM Eastern and 1PM Pacific ACO Watch: A Mid Week Review will host a special roundtable series on the ‘hot of the press’ Notice of Proposed Rule pertaining to the implementation of Accountable Care Organizations. For the published rule, click here. Our roundtable team will …

They’re Here!

After 6 or so months of waiting for guidance on the implementation of Accountable Care Organizations (ACOs), the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services finally released the first round of the ‘notice of proposed rule making’ via: Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services | 42 CFR Part 425 [CMS-1345-P] RIN 0938-AQ22 | Medicare Program; Medicare Shared Savings …

Ignoring Primary Care: Obscuring the Obvious

By Jeffrey L. Cohen Healthcare reform used to imply just regulatory change.  As time marches on, it also implies market change.  Most pundits agree that, whatever happens to the healthcare reform law, whether or not it is found to be unconstitutional, the healthcare business community is unleashed.  Change is afoot! If you follow my nahsaying …

Head Spinning Post HealthCamp San Diego, Health 2.0 Spring Fling and more

Whew! What a week here in San Diego, and the oven is just starting to warm up in this resource rich county peppered with cutting edge integrated delivery systems, pockets of physician thought leadership, encircled by high concentrations of bio-tech, life sciences and wireless health innovators, including forward thinking academic centers of excellence. What’s all this got to do with …

Tough Sledding Ahead for the EHR Industry?

Perhaps this exchange best illustrates the clash of culture between the ‘medical boots in the ground’ aka CMIO’s and the EHR industry. The names have been changed to protect the innocent or guilty depending on your perspective. Cast: A really smart and justifiably confident EHR engineer, programmer and system architect for a major EHR company with decent …

ACO Watch: A Mid-Week Review with William DeMarco

On the Wednesday, March 2rd 2011 program at 11AM Pacific and 1PM Central Time, my special guest commentator is noted author, speaker and consultant William DeMarco, for more information, click here. DeMarco is the President & CEO of DeMarco & Associates, Inc., a national, independent healthcare consulting firm specializing in healthcare delivery system redesign and …

Leading from the Future: A Thought Leadership Event on Accountable Care Organizations

And so the day/event arrives which brought me from San Diego to HIMSS 2011 Orlando arrives. Leading from the Future kicks off (though apparently there’s been some confusion with the schedule), at 1PM with Lee Sachs, EVP, and Chief Medical Officer, Advocate Health Partners. Advocate is perhaps one of the prototype ‘institutionally lead’, though private …

ACO’s: Now We’re Just Being Silly

By Jeffrey L. Cohen By now, every physician has heard the term “Accountable Care Organization.” They have also heard the term “Irritable Bowel Syndrome,” which elicits similar response. We all know for instance ACOs are being proposed as the new healthcare delivery platform for the masses and that they are more an idea, an experiment, than …

‘Culture Wars’ at CMS?

By Gregg A. Masters, MPH The first declaratory though public announcement on when industry stakeholders could expect the highly anticipated guidance via the first round of a notice of proposed rule making (NPRM) process, was Q4 2010. Subsequent updates has suggested first a January, and now February, release date. Some of the skeptics referring to CMS as a ‘black box’ …