Healthcare groups recommend changes to Medicare shared savings program.

Healthcare IT News (2/10) reports that in a letter to CMS Administration Marilyn Tavenner on Friday, a “who’s-who” of healthcare stakeholders recommended a number of improvements to the Medicare Shared Savings Program. Signed by nearly three dozen organizations – including the American Medical Association, the American Academy of Family Physicians and the National Association of ACOs – the letter said the recommendations “reflect our unified expectation and desire to see the MSSP achieve the long-term sustainability necessary to reduce healthcare costs and improve quality” through the accountable care program.

The groups wrote, “We urge CMS to: strengthen the assignment of Medicare beneficiaries, establish a more appropriate balance between risk and reward, adopt payment waivers to eliminate barriers to care coordination, modify the current benchmark methodology, and provide better and timelier data.”

Health IT Analytics (2/9) also reports the story.

From AMA Morning Rounds, 2-10-15.