Certain accountable care organizations (ACO) are no longer subject to mandatory antitrust reviews, reports FierceHealthcare. Along with the release of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) final rule, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and the Department of Justice (DoJ) issued a final antitrust enforcement policy clarifying that the agencies won't challenge as per se illegal a Shared Savings Program ACO that jointly negotiates with private insurers to serve patients in commercial markets if the ACO satisfies certain conditions. Although the FTC and DoJ still plan to enforce antitrust laws to protect market competition, health insurers remain concerned that groups of hospitals and doctors that form an ACO will gain too much clout and, therefore, drive up prices to private insurers. --Read the full post at FierceHealthcare