Making Good on ACOs’ Promise — The Final Rule for the Medicare Shared Savings Program

Dr. Donald Berwick, the administrator for the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, recently wrote an article in The New England Journal of Medicine. Dr. Berwick provides his perspective on managing care by working in a team and ultimately improving the quality of care by setting up an accountable care organization (ACO). He highlights how the ACO rules have changed since they were released back in March after receiving about 1,200 comments on the rules from providers, organizations and other health care stakeholders. The comments focused on reducing the barriers to participate in an ACO (criteria and regulations to qualify and participate), reducing the financial barriers in setting up an ACO and lastly, maintaining patient choice.