The long-awaited proposed rule for launching accountable care organizations (ACOs) in Medicare in January contains a big surprise: financial penalties if these new teams of providers exceed the spending target set for them under the program. Read more »
The Obama administration is selling a plan to coordinate Medicare services, and the program's success now rests on whether skeptical seniors will choose to participate. Experts say education will be pivotal to keep beneficiaries from taking any complaints to Congress, where lawmakers have proved highly sensitive to the protests of the powerful elder lobby.
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The accountable care organizations (ACOs) that Medicare will launch in January are being likened to unicorns—such is their rarity in the real world of health care. But with the March 31 unveiling of a proposed rule for Medicare ACOs, it became clearer what an emerging market populated with teams of doctors, hospitals, and other caregivers might actually look like and how it will operate—at least from the government's point of view.
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The accountable care organizations (ACOs) proposed for Medicare will allow providers to collaborate without running afoul of federal anti-trust laws, according to officials from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, the Department of Justice (DOJ) and the Federal Trade Commission (FTC). Read more »
Obama administration officials may have to tell Congress it has to break the health overhaul law by not implementing a long-term care insurance program if it cannot be reworked to become financially sustainable, Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius said. Read more »
If employers eventually see the insurance in exchanges as a better alternative to employer-sponsored coverage and shift workers into the new markets, it would be a positive development, Obama administration health official Joel Ario said at a CQ Roll Call and Thomson Reuters briefing. Read more »