Accountable Care Organizations: FTC, CMS, OIG Hosting Public Workshop on October 5, 2010

On October 5, 2010, the FTC, CMS and OIG will host a public workshop featuring a listening session on various legal issues related to ACOs, including antitrust, physician self-referral, anti-kickback and civil monetary penalty laws. Registration for the workshop is currently closed, but the listening session is available to all.

Physicians, physician associations, hospitals, health systems and consumers should consider participating in a listening session that is part of a workshop on accountable care organizations (ACOs), to be hosted on October 5, 2010, by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), and the Office of the Inspector General (OIG) of the Department of Health and Human Services. Registration for the workshop filled immediately after being announced, but the afternoon listening session is open to all. The workshop will be held from 9 am to 4:30 pm EDT in the main auditorium of the Central Building of CMS at 7500 Security Boulevard in Baltimore, Maryland. Interested parties may participate via teleconference and web conference; log-in details will be posted on the CMS website prior to the workshop.

The workshop will feature panel discussions and a listening session on various legal issues related to ACOs, including antitrust, physician self-referral, anti-kickback and civil monetary penalty laws. In particular, the FTC, CMS and OIG wish to receive industry feedback on the following issues:

How various ACO structures in different health care markets could affect the cost and quality of health care delivered to privately insured consumers and Medicare and Medicaid beneficiaries Whether (and if so, how) the requirements of the antitrust, physician self-referral, anti-kickback and civil monetary penalty laws should be addressed in the regulations under development for the Medicare Shared Savings Program To what extent, if at all, any safe harbors, exceptions, exemptions or waivers from the aforementioned laws may be...