IOM May Miss Deadline For Essential Benefits Report
In other news related to the health law's implementation, policy analysts offer their views of the challenges ahead for the creation of accountable care organizations.
Reuters/Baltimore Sun: Exclusive: Health Benefits Report May Miss Deadline
A key recommendation for medical coverage standards under the Obama administration's health care overhaul may be issued later than a September deadline, according to the organization preparing the report. The influential Institute of Medicine, an independent agency based in Washington, was given the task of recommending how to determine the basic health benefits for millions of Americans who will qualify for coverage sold through state-run insurance exchanges beginning in 2014. ... IOM spokeswoman Christine Stencel said the institute was still working to release its report by the end of September, but that the issue date could slip into October (Morgan and Selyukh 8/17).
Modern Healthcare: Policy Analysts See Big ACO Challenges
Hospitals and doctors may underestimate the complexity, cost and time required to establish successful accountable care organizations, a scenario that would set providers up to fail, two health policy experts argue in the Journal of the American Medical Association. Stephen Shortell, dean of the University of California at Berkeley School of Public Health, and Sara Singer, a Harvard University assistant professor of health policy and management, said a "constellation of potential shortcomings" could leave newly formed accountable care organizations unable to improve health care quality (Evans, 8/17).