The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) sent the Medicare Shared Savings/Accountable Care Organizations (ACO) final rule to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), one of the last stops before it will be published in the Federal Register, according to Health Data Management.
Despite concerns about the tight deadline, Administrator Donald M. Berwick last month said he anticipated that the Pioneer ACO program would launch by the year's end. With 30 Pioneers heading the Program first, the later Shared Savings program still awaits the final rule to be announced soon.
The final rule is expected to include drastic changes based on significant backlash from professional physician organizations, as well as leading hospitals and most likely candidates (Cleveland Clinic, Mayo Clinic, Geisinger Health System, and Intermountain Healthcare) who passed on the option. After CMS released the proposed rule in March, commenters said the proposal was too restrictive and bureaucratic with 65 measures and didn't offer enough financial incentives to encourage participation.
Among the changes that commenters hope for include cutting down on measures from the proposed 65, reducing the primary care physician requirement of 50 percent demonstration in Meaningful Use to 25 percent, and inclusion of pathologists and lab professions as eligible physicians, among other things, according to the Health Data Management article.
At the time of publication, CMS and the OMB were not available for comment.
For more information:
- read the Health Data Management article
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