Specialty doctor groups ask feds to delay managed care move for dual eligibles

Several organizations have asked the federal government to slow down implementation of a health law provision that would move people eligible for both Medicare and Medicaid into managed care.

Modern Healthcare: Specialists Push For More Time On Dual-Eligibles Demo
The Alliance of Specialty Medicine, an association of specialty medical societies, wants the CMS to delay for at least a year its implementation of a demonstration project for patients known as dual-eligibles who are eligible for both Medicare and Medicaid. In a letter to Marilyn Tavenner, acting CMS administrator, the alliance members wrote they are concerned that access to care will be disrupted because of potential problems with the demonstration resulting from a swift and relatively large implementation among the states applying to join (Barr, 5/27).

CQ HealthBeat: Specialists Urge One Year Delay In Demo Moving Duals Into Managed Care
The Alliance of Specialty Medicine, which represents about 100,000 specialty physicians, says federal officials should delay until 2014 a program expected to move a million or more of the so-called dual eligible population into managed care plans (Reichard, 5/25). 

The Hill: Medical Specialists Push Back On Initiative From Health Care Law
In a letter, the Alliance of Specialty Medicine asked the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) for a one-year delay on the grounds that the current "direction and speed" of the project's implementation would jeopardize payments to medical professionals as well as the care of so-called dual eligibles -- people enrolled in both Medicare and Medicaid. "While the goal of the program is to eliminate duplication of services for these patients," the group wrote, "we are deeply concerned about unintended consequences" (Viebeck, 5/25).