House subcommittee plans hearings on ACOs

In related news, Politico Pro reports that five leading health systems announced a plan to partner in sharing electronic health records. These systems note that the ability to share patient data with EHRs is key to success in creating ACOs.

CQ HealthBeat: House Health Subcommittee To Hold Hearing On ACOs
The Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Health will hold a hearing on accountable care organizations in the Medicare program, the subcommittee chairman said Wednesday. Republican Joe Pitts of Pennsylvania told reporters that he doesn't yet have a timetable or agenda for that hearing or several others he has planned. Pitts said the subcommittee also will hold hearings on the Medicare and Medicaid elements of a 2012 budget plan laid out Tuesday by Budget Committee Chairman Paul D. Ryan, R-Wis., and on Medicare and Medicaid fraud. Pitts also said a hearing with Donald M. Berwick, administrator of the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services, will be postponed (Norman, 4/6).

Politico Pro: 5 Top Providers Partner Ahead Of ACO Reform
Sharing patient data via an electronic health record is key to the success of an accountable care organization policy, top brass at the leading health systems in the country agree. Five of these systems are partnering to share information. On Tuesday, the original proto-ACO — Geisinger — along with Kaiser Permanente, Mayo Clinic, Group Health Cooperative and Intermountain Healthcare announced a Care Connectivity Consortium (Coughlin, 4/6).