If you can get past the annoying intro advertisements, this analysis by Margaret Dick Tocknell for HealthLeaders Media poses an interesting question (in so many words): Who cares about Medicare ACOs? While industry watchers wring their hands interpreting and predicting the outcomes of ACOs as defined by the Medicare final rule, medical systems and providers are quietly making accountable care real. Will commercial ACOs, driven by market forces and motivation for cost savings and better patient care, make the Medicare-defined ACO model obsolete before it's even born? To quote:
"We're not talking about the government-issue, Medicare-based ACOs touted at every turn by Kathleen Sebelius or Don Berwick. Nope. These new ACOs are centered on commercial health plan membership and they are developing their own rules for meeting quality standards, cutting costs and earning bonus payments or what the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services likes to call shared savings."
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