As you probably know, CMS issued the initial rule for establishing accountable care organizations (ACOs), and it's a whopper at 429 pages. CMS issued the rule (“Medicare Shared Savings Program: Accountable Care Organizations”) on March 31, and opened a 60-day comment period. Here's a look at some of the subsequent analysis and commentary—and there's plenty of it:
- From The Health Care Blog, Vince Kuraitis shares eight first impressions about the ACO rule, notably that the requirements for hospitals to establish an ACO are serious: "The infrastructure, operational and reporting requirements for setting up an ACO have teeth." No dipping your toes in the water here.
- LeadingAge (formerly AAHSA) has published a whitepaper about how nursing homes, SNFs and other LTC and post-acute providers can participate in ACOs. It also has created a tool to assess providers' readiness to participate in an accountable care organization.
- HealthLeaders Media reports on mixed responses to the initial ACO rule.
- AHCA weighs in with a pretty ho-hum statement about how ACOs can include nursing homes and other post-acute care providers.
- Again from HealthLeaders: Are the savings from participating in an ACO worth the costs? (Or as my boss is fond of asking, "Is the juice worth the squeeze?")
- We hope CMS will uphold this admirable promise to genuinely consider feedback during the 60-day comment period.
- Privacy, fraud and antitrust implications of the new ACO rule. More important things for SNFs, nursing homes and other post-acute and LTC providers to consider.
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