ACO ‘Pioneers’ Feeling Skittish About Next Stage Of Implementation
The providers who are participating in this health law effort to control costs and improve quality are nervous about the second year's emphasis on accountability.
The Washington Post: Hospitals Want To Delay A Key Obamacare Program
In 2011, the Obama administration settled on 32 health care systems, scattered across the country, to lead the Affordable Care Act's most ambitious cost-control effort. ... For the past year, the Pioneer ACOs have received payments just for reporting data on the 33 metrics, which includes data on how many patients receive mammograms or end up back in the hospital 30 days after their discharge. In 2012, no payments were tethered to how good or bad their outcomes were. That changed in 2013. Now, the health care providers are scheduled to move from pay-for-reporting to pay-for-performance—and are getting nervous about how they will be judged (Kliff, 3/6).
Kaiser Health News: Capsules: A Bump In The Road To Accountable Care?
For the first year of the program, everything seemed like smooth sailing. But the pioneers appear to have hit their first pothole—and the administration is scrambling to make sure the project goes forward. The problem: That pesky little part about accountability (Gold, 3/8).