CMS Extends Deadline for Pioneer ACO Letters of Intent, Applications - June 14, 2011

The federal Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) recently announced it will push back the deadline for those entities interested in pursuing the newly-proposed Pioneer Accountable Care Organization (ACO) model. CMS is now giving parties until June 30 to submit letters of intent; previously the deadline was June 10. In addition, Pioneer ACO applications are now due Aug. 19, instead of July 18. Pioneer ACOs were announced by CMS in late-May. They will be developed by entities that already have well-established patient care coordination services. While a number of the Pioneer ACO Model requirements will be consistent with or identical to those of the Medicare Shared Savings Program, the two models differ in several important respects. These differing factors include the opportunity for a more aggressive assumption of risk by the ACO, the possibility of a prospective beneficiary assignment methodology, and an expansion in the type of primary care providers serving ACO patients.