Category Archives: ACO

NOIs Due Soon to Apply for 2014 ACO Program

The Medicare Shared Savings Program (MSSP) for accountable care organizations (ACOs) established under the Affordable Care Act is about to kick-off its second year with a new round of applications for the January 1, 2014 start date. As part of the application process, those seeking to apply into the ACO MSSP must first submit a (...) [Read More]

Five Trends in Health Care for Election Year 2012

   This article originally appeared in the December 28, 2011 issue of Bloomberg’s Health Law Report. Health care reform is a critical issue facing our nation, and a hot topic for the 2012 elections. Tough economic times leave many Americans unemployed and without health care insurance. At the same time, Congress struggles to balance a (...) [Read More]

Final ACO Rules Provides Greater Flexibility and Expanded HIPAA Privacy Protections

CMS’s final regulations (final rule) implementing the Accountable Care Organization (ACO) shared savings program (Shared Savings Program) and the complementary regulations and guidance from CMS/OIG and DOJ/FTC are materially different from the proposed rules. After the proposed rule generated little interest in actually undertaking ACO development, CMS changed the final rule to focus on the (...) [Read More]

Increased Exchange of PHI for ACO Participants: Beneficiaries Retain HIPAA Privacy Rights

This is part of Ober|Kaler’s comprehensive overview of federal agencies’ implementation of the Accountable Care Act’s ACO and Shared Savings Program provisions: CMS Proposed ACO Implementing Regulations Antitrust Fraud and Abuse Privacy Tax-Exempt Organizations Recently issued regulations and other notices for comments have given health care providers guidance on how to organize and operate accountable (...) [Read More]