Berwick touts accountable care organizations as key to healthcare overhaul
WASHINGTON – Upon their release in May, the Department of Health and Human Services’ proposed regulations on accountable care organizations became one of the first delivery-reform initiatives to be implemented under the Accountable Care Act.
Donald Berwick, MD, administrator of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, has called the regulations the key to overhauling the U.S. healthcare system. He said ACOs will be designed to accelerate progress toward better care for individuals and populations and slow growth in costs through improvements in care.
According to the proposal, ACOs would have to meet quality standards in five key areas – patient/caregiver care experiences; care coordination; patient safety; preventive health; and at-risk population/frail elderly health.
"The proposed rule includes strong protections to ensure patients do not have their care choices limited by an ACO," said HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius.
William F. Jessee, MD, president and CEO of the Medical Group Management Association, added the formation of ACOs "has the potential to greatly improve the coordination of care received by Medicare beneficiaries, and offers the promise of safer, more efficient and effective care."
The American Medical Group Association, which was responsible for reviewing the proposed rule, aimed to see how it aligned with the AMGA's ACO principles for physician-led entities, team-based infrastructures and patient-centric care, said Chet Speed, the AMGA’s vice president of public policy.
"AMGA fully supports the ACO concept and looks forward to working with CMS on this delivery system innovation," Speed said.
The proposal called for the group practice reporting option, an electronic reporting tool already used by the government in the physician quality reporting system, to be updated for ACO use. How well certified EHRs interface with the GPRO will be critical, said Brian Ahier, of the Mid-Columbia Medical Center in Dalles, Ore. "This poses a real business opportunity for EHR vendors," he said.
Ultimately, in the final rule, which was released Oct. 20, HHS eased EHR requirements by making it “no longer a condition of participation,” and instead “retained EHR as a quality measure but weighted higher than any other measure for quality-scoring purposes.”
