ACO RULES: ONE STEP FORWARD, ONE STEP BACK

The recently released CMS rule on ACOs, once thought of as the primary (if not only) delivery system reform in the Affordable Care Act, has been met with considerable concern.

For example, after surveying its members, AMGA said 93% of its membership would not participate “under the current regulatory framework.” CHIME highlighted areas where it sees incentives around HIT as fundamentally misaligned in the current rule. Even a few senators are getting in on the act.

In conversations around the state – and in DC – it sounds like many health care leaders are putting hope in the Pioneer ACO Model as a way to spark innovation and organizational uptake of the ACO paradigm.

Those typically at the table first get to help set it. In other words, early adopters will likely have tremendous sway on consequent rule writing. The RFA for the program is out now. Want to respond to that? CMS has a conference call on Tuesday to discuss. Letters of intent are due June 10th.