MedPAC Warns of HMO-Like Backlash to ACOs

Tags: ACO | CMS | HMOMedPAC

In a letter to CMS, Medicare Payment Advisory Commission warned that patients might have the same negative reaction to accountable care organizations as it did to HMOs some 15 years ago, according to a report by the Hill.

In the HMO backlash, patients felt forced into managed care without seeing any of the benefits, and Medicare beneficiaries could feel the same way about the ACO-assignment process, the MedPAC letter stated. 



Congress may have to create incentives for joining ACOs, such as lower out-of-pocket costs or getting a part of the savings, MedPAC wrote. The panel also recommended allowing beneficiaries to switch from an assigned primary care provider to another provider who is not in an ACO. 



Read the Hill report on ACOs.

Read more about assignment of beneficiaries to ACOs:

- AMA Opposes Attributing Beneficiaries to an ACO After Care Has Begun

- Why You Should Be Concerned With How Patients Are Attributed in ACOs

- CMS Asks When Medicare Beneficiaries Should be Assigned to ACOs

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