New ACO Rules Would Delay Penalties

New ACO Rules Would Delay Penalties-kaiserhealthnews: A proposed rule issued by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services Monday would push back punishment for poor performance by accountable care organizations by three years.

U.S. says results encouraging for healthcare delivery reforms

U.S. says results encouraging for healthcare delivery reforms-reuters: (Reuters) - The Obama administration on Thursday reported what it called encouraging results from efforts to reduce healthcare costs and improve the quality of care for more than 5 million Medicare beneficiaries under Obamacare. As part of President Barack Obama's healthcare reform law, the efforts center around more than 360 accountable care organizations (ACOs), which are networks of doctors, hospitals and other providers specially organized to help move Medicare away from traditional fee-for-service medicine.

Pay and Practice: Limited Results on ACOs From Medicare

Pay and Practice: Limited Results on ACOs From Medicare-medpagetoday: WASHINGTON -- The Medicare program has released the initial, top-line results for some of its Shared Savings Program Accountable Care Organizations (ACOs), but don't hold your breath looking for specific details or greater meaning.

CMS Expected To Detail Pioneer ACO 1st Year Performance, Dropouts On Tuesday

CMS Expected To Detail Pioneer ACO 1st Year Performance, Dropouts On Tuesday-insidehealthpolicy: CMS is expected to announce on Tuesday (July 16) the performance results for the first year of the pioneer ACO demonstration and the number of accountable care organizations dropping out of the demo, physician lobbyists say. CMS has touted ACOs as one of the most promising changes to how health care is delivered, and providers say the results will offer the first indication of how the best, most integrated organizations are handling ACOs.

MedPAC: ACOs Are Locating Mostly In Areas With High MA Penetration

MedPAC: ACOs Are Locating Mostly In Areas With High MA Penetration-insidehealthpolicy: Accountable Care Organizations are locating primarily where Medicare Advantage is strong, according to Congress' Medicare advisers, who on Thursday (April 4) will review research on the some 250 ACOs, but there are some exceptions that could be interesting, according to a consultant. Maps of ACOs and MA plan penetration, based on 2012 data, show areas of inconsistency on both coasts and in Mountain states.

NCQA Issues First ACO Accreditations

NCQA Issues First ACO Accreditations-healthleadersmedia: Saying "we don't want to have organizations mess up the concept," the National Committee of Quality Assurance president last week announced that six physician-hospital networks are the first to receive accreditation that they qualify as true accountable care organizations."If we really want to maximize the chance of success of the ACO concept, we have to make sure everyone who is a player is capable of being one," said Margaret O'Kane. "We've lived through periods when we've had managed care backlash and so forth, and sometimes, it's because we had organizations that weren't doing the right thing."

CMS Unveils 106 More ACOs; Estimates They Save $940M In Four Years

CMS Unveils 106 More ACOs; Estimates They Save $940M In Four Years-insidehealthpolicy: As accountable care organizations catch on, they could save up to $940 million over four years, CMS said Thursday (Jan. 10) as it announced 106 new ACOs, bringing to about 250 the number of ACOs formed since passage of the health reform law, which applied the ACO concept to Medicare. CMS also unveiled a report finding that Medicare spending per beneficiary grew only 0.4 percent in fiscal 2012, and a few health care lobbyists say that as the growth in health care spending slows, it becomes increasingly difficult for lawmakers to squeeze additional savings from Medicare.

Health Reform Insider - August 8, 2011

Health Reform Insider - August 8, 2011 - InsideHealthPolicy.com: "There has been stronger interest among stakeholders in the Pioneer ACOs than in the health reform law's ACOs for Medicare that were outlined in CMS' proposed rule in March. Pioneer ACOs are viewed as more flexible in such areas as payment methodology, payor participation and assignment of beneficiaries into the ACOs. However, several aspects of the Pioneer demonstration are dependent on the final ACO rule, such as the number of quality measures Pioneers will have to meet."

Health care providers embracing cost-saving groups - USATODAY.com

Between 60 and 80 health care organizations use private accountable care models now, and that number will rise by at least 100 next year as the Medicare pilot program begins.

Health care providers embracing cost-saving groups - USATODAY.com: "WASHINGTON — Health care providers are embracing accountable care organizations, a key part of last year's health care law, as they try to control rising Medicare and health care costs."