Co-Founder & President of One Payer States Chuck Pennacchio discusses Medicare killer ACO REACH.

Co-Founder & President of One Payer States Chuck Pennacchio understands that Medicare is under attack, and he exposes its methodical destruction. ACO REACH one tool.

Medicare killer ACO REACH discussed

Chuck Pennacchio knows that ACO REACH puts Medicare at risk. The following is from the government website.

The redesigned ACO REACH Model reflects the priorities of the Biden-Harris Administration and responds to feedback from stakeholders and participants. ACO REACH will enable CMS to test an ACO model that can inform the Medicare Shared Savings Program and future models by making important changes to the GPDC Model in three areas: 

1. Advance Health Equity to Bring the Benefits of Accountable Care to Underserved Communities. The ACO REACH model promotes health equity and focuses on bringing the benefits of accountable care to Medicare beneficiaries in underserved communities. ACO REACH will test an innovative payment approach to better support care delivery and coordination for patients in underserved communities and will require that all model participants develop and implement a robust health equity plan to identify underserved communities and implement initiatives to measurably reduce health disparities within their beneficiary populations.  
    
2. Promote Provider Leadership and Governance. The ACO REACH Model includes policies to ensure doctors and other health care providers continue to play a primary role in accountable care. At least 75% control of each ACO’s governing body generally must be held by participating providers or their designated representatives, compared to 25% during the first two Performance Years of the GPDC Model. In addition, the ACO REACH Model goes beyond prior ACO initiatives by requiring at least two beneficiary advocates on the governing board (at least one Medicare beneficiary and at least one consumer advocate), both of whom must hold voting rights. 
    
3. Protect Beneficiaries and the Model with More Participant Vetting, Monitoring and Greater Transparency. CMS will ask for additional information on applicants’ ownership, leadership, and governing board to gain better visibility into ownership interests and affiliations to ensure participants’ interests align with CMS’s vision. We will employ increased up-front screening of applicants, robust monitoring of participants, and greater transparency into the model’s progress during implementation, even before final evaluation results, and will share more information on the participants and their work to improve care. Last, CMS will also explore stronger protections against inappropriate coding and risk score growth. 

While it sounds good, Chuck explains the problems.