Health Policy Current Events Health Policy Final

Health Policy Current Events

Health Policy

Final Rules for the Accountable Care Organizations have been Published

Section 3022 of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2010 provides a provision for care providers to form organizations focused on improving and lowering the cost of patient care (Berwick, 2011). ACOs are structured such that care providers will be able to share in any cost of care savings realized, thus providing a potentially large incentive to participate. This has caused a bit of a 'gold rush fever' in the industry, with many hospitals and other healthcare organizations reportedly already functioning as ACOs in advance of the January, 2012 start of the program (Gold, 2011).

As with any incentive program oversight is critical, because the temptation to cut costs at the expense of patient health will be substantial. On October 5, 2011 the Department of Health and Human Services published the final rule for ACOs, which contained oversight and reporting requirements to help ensure patient health is actually improved rather than sacrificed (Berwick, 2011, p. 2). A total of 33 measures in 4 domains were agreed upon, including patient experience of care, utilization, and outcomes. For ACOs to be reimbursed under Medicare they will have to file reports quarterly during the first year, and during the next two years reimbursement will depend on both fulfilling reporting requirements and quality of care performance.

WHO Declares Non-Ionizing Radiation a Possible Carcinogen

On May 31, 2011 the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) issued a press release stating that they concluded radio frequency non-ionizing radiation is a possible carcinogen (International Agency for Research on Cancer, 2011). A working group of scientists responsible for the press release felt there was sufficient evidence for concern about the risk for glioma, a form of brain cancer, and stated that the increasing use of cellular phones by children and young adults, and increasing levels of occupational and environmental contamination, justified caution until more research can be done. This press release probably won't change health policy in the United States on a national level, at least not in the short-term, but the credibility of the working group is hard to dismiss (Parker-Pope and Barringer, 2011). Pediatricians should probably caution parents about heavy cell phone usage by their children and adults who spend hours a day on a cell phone may want to switch to a system that keeps the phone away from the head.