Following its announcement of the Oct. 20 final rule, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) yesterday released the 2012 application for its Medicare Shared Savings Program. Interested accountable care organizations (ACO) have the option for two start dates of April 1, 2012 and July 1, 2012. Before generally cheering for the final rule's revisions, providers had blasted CMS for the short timeline in its proposed draft in the spring. Under the application guidelines, CMS now will accept applications for the two start dates. It will take applications from Dec. 1. to Jan. 20, 2012 for the April 1, 2012 start date and from March 1 to March 30, 2012 for the later July 1, 2012 start date, according to the CMS website.
Aimed at reducing care fragmentation and care, the government's ACO initiative is the biggest change to the traditional fee-for-service approach in decades. The Shared Savings program incentivizes hospitals, physicians, payers, and other providers to coordinate care services under Medicare Parts A and B, encouraging investment in the infrastructure for what CMS argues will not only save money but will improve patient care. CMS will announce approval or denial decisions on March 16, 2012 and May 31, 2012. Application (.pdf)