As stakeholders begin to digest the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services proposed rule for Medicare Shared Savings Program accountable care organizations, commentators are beginning to weigh in with their critiques. Some of the first salvos against the proposed rule appear in the Health Affairs blog, with Steven Lieberman, a visiting scholar at the Engelberg Center for Health Care Reform at the Brookings Institution, concluding that the proposed rule “imposes unfavorable economics, unrealistic requirements, high uncertainty, and significant risks for ACOs” in his blog entitled “Proposed CMS Regulation Kills ACOs Softly”.
Similarly, Ron Klar, Chief of Health Systems Innovation and Performance for George Washington University Medical Faculty Associates, weighs in that existing integrated systems will find the financial incentives “inadequate” while “provider groups contemplating becoming an ACO will find the organizational and operations requirements and costs excessive” in his blog entitled “Overweight and Out of Shape: ACO Regs Need a Major Makeover”.
Ignatius Bau 