A simple break-even calculation turns a reimbursement advantage into staff minutes, showing practices when prior authorization, denials and uncollected patient balances wipe out a better rate.
|Articles|May 25, 2011
Accountable care organization rules to debut in July
The National Committee for Quality Assurance will release its rules for ACOs in July.
Advertisement
The National Committee for Quality Assurance (NCQA), the healthcare standards group that created the recognition program used by many commercial payers for Patient-Centered Medical Home programs, will release its rules for accountable care organizations (ACOs) in July.
ACOs are provider-based organizations that take responsibility for meeting the healthcare needs of a defined population. In early May, NCQA announced the completion of its year-long collaboration with 10 integrated delivery systems, independent practice associations, and multispecialty groups on a pilot project to create ACO standards. NCQA will use feedback from the pilot to revise the standards before it issues final ACO accreditation standards in July. The organization began working on ACO accreditation criteria in April 2010.
In April, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services opened its proposed rule for ACOs for a public comment period.
Advertisement
Related to this article
Medical Economics spoke with health care attorney Tatiana Melnik, J.D., about vendor contracts, patient consent and the malpractice questions physicians could face next.
How long before every doctor has an artificial intelligence stunt double?
The Illinois College of Osteopathic Medicine at The Chicago School welcomed its first class of 91 students in July, with mental health built into all four years of training. Medical Economics spoke with John Lucas, D.O., and Michele Nealon, Psy.D., about whole-person care, burnout and the stigma physicians face in seeking help.
CMS' proposed cuts to physician fees focus on the operating room. For the primary care physicians managing recovery after surgery, the real gap is much larger.
Health care was the only one of five sectors to cut spending commitments this spring, falling 2.8% as hospitals faced rising supply costs and physicians awaited the final 2027 Medicare fee schedule, Coupa's Business Spend Index found.
It's shared savings season and the check has arrived. Now how do physicians divide it up fairly?
Advertisement
Advertisement
Trending on Medical Economics
1
How Chicago's first new medical school in nearly a century is training doctors to treat mental and physical health together
2
Russian lab worker's death sparks plague fears; Utah lets AI write first-time prescriptions; FTC warns 24 health systems on hidden prices — Morning Medical Update Weekly Recap
3
Can a safety prompt make AI safer for clinical decisions? Study says yes, partly
4
Why is healthcare spending declining in 2026?
5