Today, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Service (HHS) named 32 health care organizations that will participate in the Pioneer Accountable Care Organization Model. The goal of the new ACO Model is to encourage providers, hospitals, specialists, and caregivers to provide more coordinated care, which could save $1.1 billion over a five year period, HHS projects. The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) Innovation Center is spearheading this initiative and will reward groups that have formed ACOs based on improvements in health of their Medicare patients and their ability to lower health care costs. Under the Pioneer ACO Model, the 32 selected health care organizations will test the effectiveness of several innovative payment models. The goal of the Pioneer ACO model is to provide better care for beneficiaries, improved coordination with private payers, a reduction Medicare cost growth, and rewards for health care providers that deliver high-quality care. The 32 selected Pioneer ACOs represent urban and rural organizations from various geographic regions of the country, covering 18 states and 860,000 Medicare beneficiaries.

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) have announced that the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation (Innovation Center) will support a new type of Accountable Care Organization, called the Pioneer ACO Model. This type of ACO is designed to work in conjunction with both public and private payers and is estimated by the Medicare Chief Actuary to save up to $430 million over 3 years because of better care management and coordination. “The Pioneer Model is an opportunity for those organizations that have already adopted significant care coordination processes to move further and faster into seamless, coordinated care by utilizing alternative payment mechanisms,” said Richard Gilfillan, M.D., director of the Innovation Center. CMS will accept applications for Pioneer ACOs through July 18, 2011.

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) will host a workshop on May 9 to gather information on enforcing U.S. antitrust laws as they relate to the formation of Accountable Care Organizations (ACOs). The Department of Justice (DOJ) and the FTC issued a joint policy statement on ACO antitrust enforcement March 31, for which the comment period expires at the end of May.

The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) and the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) have issued a joint policy statement on how they will enforce U.S. antitrust law related to the new Accountable Care Organizations (ACO) created by the Affordable Care Act (ACA). The two agencies are soliciting public comment on the proposed policy statement, which would create an antitrust "safety zone" and provide expedited antitrust review for certain ACOs.

In a letter to CMS Administrator Donald Berwick, the Medicare Patient Advisory Commission urged that the agency establish Accountable Care Organization demonstrations through the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation that not only provide bonuses to providers for improving outcomes at reduced cost, but also penalizes those that fail to do so.

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services has released a request for information on Accountable Care Organizations and the Medicare Shared Savings Program under the health reform law. This is to be published in the federal register on November 17 with the deadline for comments to fall 21 days later.