Acos: FTC member says health law 'centerpiece' needs clarification

Bloomberg: Health Care Centerpiece In Law Lacks Clarity, FTC Member Says
Thomas Rosch, a Republican member of the U.S. Federal Trade Commission, urged the Obama administration to clarify a centerpiece of the new health care law that raises antitrust issues. An administration rule implementing the new program should specify whether the FTC or the Justice Department has authority to determine when there is anticompetitive behavior, Rosch said today in Washington. At issue are so-called accountable care organizations which allow hospitals, insurers and groups of doctors to form combines with the aim of cutting health costs. Rosch said he is also concerned that the administration's new rules, to be announced soon, won't be able to measure cost reduction adequately (Bliss, 3/3).

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This article was reprinted from kaiserhealthnews.org with permission from the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation. Kaiser Health News, an editorially independent news service, is a program of the Kaiser Family Foundation, a nonpartisan health care policy research organization unaffiliated with Kaiser Permanente.