With the final rule for accountable care organizations expected any day now, U.S. Congressman Michael Burgess, MD, has said he hopes CMS “completely scraps the approach taken in the proposed rule,” according to a report from The Hill.
Rep. Burgess (R-Texas), is vice chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee’s Health sub-panel. In his op-ed, he said CMS is facing a “debacle of enormous proportions” given the proposed rule’s burdensome start-up costs, overbearing regulations, continuous antitrust threats and extensive number of metrics.
He also explained that ACOs began as a bipartisan issue, a rare exception in politics today. “From both sides of the aisle, the concept — to integrate and improve the multiple layers of medical care at an affordable cost to all — has been applauded,” he said. The proposed rule, however, caused a “dark cloud” to appear over the future of the model.
Now Rep. Burgess said the window of opportunity for ACOs is closing and CMS “shouldn’t be the one to slam that window shut” with the release of its final rule.
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