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    CMS Issued Proposed Rule on ACOs

    April 05, 2011, 02:09 PM

    On March 31, 2011, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) issued the proposed rule to establish Accountable Care Organizations (ACOs) under the Shared Savings Program. The 428 page proposed rule is available at http://www.cms.gov/sharedsavingsprogram. As part of a cross-agency, coordinated effort, several other documents were released simultaneously with the CMS proposed rule:

    • CMS and the Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General (OIG) jointly issued a notice outlining proposals for waivers of certain Federal lawsthe physician self-referral law, the anti-kickback statute, and certain provisions of the civil monetary penalty lawin connection with the Shared Savings Program.
    • The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and the Department of Justice (DOJ) jointly issued a “Proposed Statement of Enforcement Policy Regarding Accountable Care Organizations Participating in the Medicare Shared Savings Program.”
    • The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) issued a notice requesting comments regarding the need for guidance on participation by tax-exempt organizations in the Shared Savings Program through ACOs. The IRS notice is available at http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-drop/n-11-20.pdf.

    The Agencies are requesting comments on their respective proposed rules and polices discussed above. Our next post will provide further guidance on participating in the public comment process for the CMS proposed rule on ACOs as well as commenting on these other supplemental documents. Additionally, we will break down the new ACO proposed rule and provide guidance on better understanding how the end result of ACOs may work over the next several posts.Christopher L. McLean