The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) announced 121 new participants in Medicare Accountable Care Organization (ACO) initiatives designed to improve the care patients receive in the health care system and lower costs. With this announcement, ACOs now represent 49 states and the District of Columbia.
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By Don Michaels PhD – One of the key concepts to rise out of the turbulent past decade in the healthcare industry is the Accountable Care Organization (ACO). In the ACO model, private and government payers offer the opportunity for financial incentives to groups of providers to encourage them to come together voluntarily to deliver high quality while keeping costs down.
By Matt Fisher – The annual OIG Work Plan was published on November 2nd. The Work Plan each year identifies what the Office of the Inspector General of the Department of Health and Human Services will review and provides insight into what the OIG contemplates as risk areas.
The Workgroup for Electronic Data Interchange (WEDI), the nation’s leading nonprofit authority on the use of health IT to create efficiencies in healthcare information exchange, announced the release of a public issue brief on “The Fundamentals of Accountable Care Organizations.”
CMS issued 2014 quality and financial performance results showing that Medicare Accountable Care Organizations (ACOs) continue to improve the quality of care for Medicare beneficiaries, while generating financial savings.
Since 2013, eHealth Initiative and Premier have surveyed public and commercial accountable care organizations to better understand how ACOs are leveraging health information technology to achieve cost savings and quality improvement.
Accountable Care Organizations (ACOs) are groups of doctors, hospitals, and other health care providers, who come together voluntarily to provide coordinated, high-quality care to their Medicare patients to help them deliver better care at lower cost.
In December, the CMS, and the OMB published a lengthy notice of proposed rulemaking (NPRM) to improve the Medicare Shared Savings Program (MSSP).
By Edmund Billings MD – I could understand completely if many behavioral health providers and facilities feel like the proverbial red headed stepchild. All this energy and money poured into improving healthcare through comprehensive information technology (IT) systems and behavioral health is left holding an empty basket.