Trump administration proposes further dismantling of Affordable Care Act through Medicare
By Amy Goldstein
August 9 at 7:55 PM
The Trump administration is proposing to restrict an innovation in the Affordable Care Act that was intended to improve Medicare and slow spending in the vast federal insurance system for older Americans. Health-care researchers have hailed the model’s promise to improve quality and efficiency, but government data suggest it is not saving enough money.
The changes, announced Thursday by the administrator of the Department of Health and Human Services’ Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, would significantly curtail Accountable Care Organizations. The ACOs can be teams of doctors, hospitals or other providers who become responsible for all the health-care needs of a specific group of patients.
Under the ACA, these teams have choices about their financial arrangements with the government. They can either collect bonuses if they provide better care at lower cost than the regular Medicare program, or they can collect greater amounts if they also are willing to accept the risk of owing money in case they end up overspending.
More than 80 percent of 561 teams in this Medicare Savings Program are using the bonus-only version, with more than 300,000 clinicians and 10 million patients taking part. Now, federal health officials want to limit such teams, saying federal data show that this version has ended up costing Medicare extra money.
Until now, ACOs have been allowed six years in which they can take part without assuming responsibility for potential losses. The proposed rule changes would limit that to two years.
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https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/trump-administration-proposes-further-dismantling-of-affordable-care-act-through-medicare/2018/08/09/cdf919f6-9c1a-11e8-843b-36e177f3081c_story.html
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