MEDICAL ECONOMICS


Failed accountability? TMA, others criticize ACO rules


Asa Lockhart, MD, of Tyler, testifies before the Senate Health and Human Services Committee on legislation authorizing physicians, hospitals, and other health care providers in Texas to form collaboratives similar to accountable care organizations for the purpose of improving quality and reducing the cost of health care.


“The consensus is that, except for perhaps a


very limited segment of the market, those rules are not workable, are not viable.”


BY KEN ORTOLON Accountable care organizations (ACOs) are the keystone of a


program the Affordable Care Act (ACA) created to improve health care quality and lower costs in Medicare.


But federal officials may have a hard time finding physicians and other health


care professionals to participate in those ACOs unless they make drastic changes in a series of draft rules issued this spring. Several state and national organizations representing physicians, hospitals, medical group managers, and others complained that ACOs likely will fail if the rules are implemented as written. “The consensus is that, except for perhaps a very limited segment of the market, those rules are not workable, are not viable,” said Tyler anesthesiologist Asa Lock-


August 2011 TEXAS MEDICINE 57


STEVE LEVINE


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