Hospital Networks Reject ObamaCare Initiative

[Geee]

Investors Business Daily:

Nine major hospital networks just decided they'd had enough of being "Pioneers" for ObamaCare.

 

They withdrew from the health reform law's Pioneer Accountable Care Organization (ACO) initiative, which launched in January 2012 with 32 health systems participating.

 

These ACOs are supposed to integrate doctors, hospitals and other providers into one seamless network that could "coordinate" care for Medicare patients — and in so doing, eliminate waste and control costs.

 

But as these nine casualties illustrate, ACOs are going to fail in that mission. Worse, they'll diminish the quality of care that Medicare patients receive.

 

Nationwide, about 425 private and public ACOs are in operation. These groups have agreed to a new government payment structure that essentially offers bonuses if they keep costs down while still meeting quality-of-care benchmarks.