America’s Essential Hospitals seeks member input on the next generation of accountable care organization (ACO) initiatives from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) Innovation Center, which has issued a request for information (RFI). Currently, ACOs allow hospitals and other health care providers to improve quality and slow cost growth through coordinated care while sharing in the savings generated.
CMS is particularly interested in the following information:
- approaches for increasing participation in the current Pioneer ACO Model through a second round of applications and potential refinements to the model
- suggestions for new ACO models that encourage greater care integration and financial accountability, including models for integrating accountability for Medicaid and Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) beneficiaries
To ensure America’s Essential Hospitals accurately conveys to CMS what is needed to make new opportunities through the Innovation Center relevant and achievable for members, we invite members to contact Sarah Mutinsky, deputy general counsel, to discuss the barriers and successes they have experienced with Medicare and Medicaid alternative payment models. Mutinsky can be reached at 202-567-6202 or smutinsky@eymanlaw.com.
Comments are due to CMS by March 1, so please reach out as soon as possible. Members can also submit individual comments to CMS.