Administration Offers New Path for ACOs

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services on Tuesday announced three new ideas to drive interest among healthcare providers for forming an accountable care organization.  The initiatives will be run by the newly created Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation, which is a byproduct of the Affordable Care Act.  

The new "Pioneer" ACO would allow existing integrated-care organizations that have already begun coordinating care for patients to pocket more of the expected savings an ACO offers.  The plan allows providers to move more rapidly from a shared savings payment model to a population-based payment model consistent with, but separate from the Medicare Shared Savings Program.  CMS estimates the Pioneer model could save Medicare up to $430 million over three years by better managing care and eliminating duplication. Organizations interested in applying to the Pioneer ACO Model must submit a letter of intent on or before June 10, 2011.  To apply, go to: http://innovations.cms.gov/wp-content/uploads/2011/05/Pioneer-ACO-Letter-of-Intent.pdf.  Applications must be received on or before July 18, 2011. 

For less mature health systems, CMS is considering an "Advance Payment" initiative that would provide additional up-front funding to providers to support the formation of new ACOs.  The program would test whether and how pre-paying providers could increase participation in the Medicare Shared Savings Progarm.  Providers would be expected to use the funds (an advance on the shared savings they are expecting) to make the infrastructure and staff investments crucial to successfully coordinating and improving care for patients.  The agency is requesting comments on this idea by June 17th. To comment, go to http://www.regulations.gov./

CMS has also announced free learning sessions on ACOs for providers interested in learning more about how to coordinate patient care through ACOs.  Four on-site learning sessions will be held in 2011.  The plenary session will be made available to all interested organizations through a web-cast and all materials from the sessions will be publicly available.  Individuals wishing to attend the June Accelerated Development Learning Session in person may register at https://acoregister.rti.org. Registration is on a first come, first served basis.


For additional information, go to: 
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