Lawmakers urge CMS to extend February deadline for Medicare ACOs

A bipartisan group of lawmakers yesterday urged the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services to provide additional time for accountable care organizations to apply to participate in the Medicare Shared Savings Program beginning in July. “While we appreciate the Agency’s effort in its final rule for MSSP ACOs, posted Dec. 21, 2018, to provide a six-month participation period in the latter half of 2019, we have heard from the ACO community that the Feb. 19, 2019 deadline for applications does not provide adequate time for some ACOs to evaluate the new and complex rules established by the final rule,” wrote Reps. Suzan DelBene, D-Wash., Mike Kelly, R-Pa., Markwayne Mullin, R-Okla., and Peter Welch, D-Vt. … “We understand the time constraints CMS must operate within but ask that you keep in mind that this truncated timeline could harm program participation and encourage the agency to consider a March deadline.” Twelve organizations, including the AHA, Friday urged CMS to consider extending the application deadline to March 29.