HHS releases proposed rule on Medicare Shared Savings Program
April 21st, 2011
On March 31, 2011, HHS released proposed new rules that will help doctors, hospitals and other providers form Accountable Care Organizations (ACOs), and reward those ACOs that lower health care costs while meeting patient care standards. ACOs create incentives for health care providers to coordinate treatment of individual patients across care settings – including doctor’s offices, hospitals, and long-term care facilities.
Patient and provider participation in an ACO is purely voluntary. The delivery system reform, part of the Affordable Care Act, is expected to improve patient care and save the Medicare program as much as $960 million over three years. The proposed rules also include protections to ensure patients’s care choices are not limited by an ACO.
The proposed new rules will be finalized on January 1, 2012, but they are available for public comment for 60 days. HHS also announced it will hold a series of open-door forums and listening sessions during the comment period regarding what CMS, the agency administering the ACO program, is proposing to do and how to participate in the formal comment process.
For more information, read the fact sheet at www.HealthCare.gov/news/factsheets/accountablecare03312011a.html.
The proposed rule itself can be found at: http://edocket.access.gpo.gov/2011/2011-7884.htm
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