White House ACO Meeting Highlights
Blair Childs and Danielle Lloyd represented Premier on August 3, 2010, at a meeting held at the White House about ACOs. The meeting was attended by Donald Berwick, MD (Administrator, Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services), Jon Leibowitz (Chair, Federal Trade Commission), and Sharis Pozen (Deputy, Department of Justice Antitrust Division), and representatives from the Internal Revenue Service. Also in attendance were Zeke Emanuel (NIH), Nancy-Ann Min DeParle (Director of the White House Office of Health Reform), Jon Blum (CMS), Tony Rodgers (CMS), Rick Gilfillan (CMS), and many other CMS and FTC representatives. The audience was composed of the AHA, AMA, pediatricians, and some hospitals, including Fairview.
DeParle and Emanuel conveyed the idea that leaders of the multiple agencies are going to work toward creating a unified vision in support of ACOs, and will push to ensure their agencies follow that vision. This push will force the agencies to work across silos in an effort to see and understand the bigger picture. Emanuel stated that he expects a strong effort by the agencies to better understand and address regulatory barriers. They understand the need for ACOs to succeed and requested input from providers to help them understand the issues and solutions needed from government.
Berwick stated that health reform offers an "unprecedented opportunity to advance care" and reiterated that the agencies will work cooperatively to help ACOs succeed. Pozen said the Department of Justice understands that providers are concerned with how antitrust laws are going to be applied.
Six Republican senators wrote to the Department of Justice Anti-trust Division and the FTC in response to the need for antitrust guidance. The letter requested the agencies to provide "user-friendly guidance on clinical integration." The letter from Senators Orrin Hatch, John Cornyn, Lindsey Graham, Pat Roberts, Tom Coburn and Olympia Snowe identified how providers are working to improve "efficiency and quality" and, thus, are reducing costs to the federal government. The letter said the guidance offered in the 1990s is "an excellent model." Read the entire letter here.
