Archive for the 'Affordable Care Act' Category

After much anticipation and an outpouring of feedback on the proposed rule released last March, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) released its final rule on the Accountable Care Medicare Shared Savings Program late last week. This program was created by one of a few key delivery system reform provisions in the health care reform law, to better align financial incentives in Fee-For-Service Medicare to strive for cost savings while protecting and improving quality of care. Provider groups had many concerns with the proposed rule, largely stemming from the lack of flexibility in initial funding that is required to develop a new ACO model and keep it running. The general analysis was that the potential upside offered through the program would not be sufficient to support the development of ACOs in the Medicare Fee-For-Service market – and the potential downside risk too great. Continue reading ‘HHS Releases Final ACO Rules’