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New Developments in Healthcare Legislation, Compensation EI & Benefits

November 10, 2011
The Phoenician
Scottsdale, AZ
Presented by the AICPA National Real Estate Conference

On March 31, 2011, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), an agency within the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), proposed new rules under the Patient Protection Affordable Care Act (PPACA) to help doctors, hospitals, and other health care providers better coordinate care for Medicare patients through Accountable Care Organizations (ACOs).  ACOs create incentives for health care providers to work together to treat an individual patient across care settings - including doctor's offices, hospitals, and long-term care facilities.  The Medicare Shared Savings Program will reward ACOs that lower growth in health care costs while meeting performance standards on quality of care and putting patients first.  Patient and provider participation in an ACO is purely voluntary.  HHS estimates that participating providers in ACOs could serve up to 5 million patients and that the model could save the Medicare program about $960 million over three years.  As good as this sounds, this new healthcare delivery model promises heavy scrutiny form the nation's top federal agencies, scores of clinical-measure requirements, downside risk, and uncertainty for success.  This presentation will outline an overview of what comprises an ACO, where we are, where we may be going.

If you have questions about the topic of this presentation, please contact Barney Herbert at barney.hebert@horne-llp.com or Anita Hamilton at anita.hamilton@horne-llp.com.

For information on this event, visit the AICPA at www.aicpa.org.