The ACO is not a new concept; it is just a different name for a system that already exists in the U.K., known as Primary Care Trusts. Primary Care Trusts integrate primary and hospital care. Regarding ACOs, antitrust safe harbor laws will hopefully not serve to incentivize healthcare organizations to integrate and collude to simply get a bigger piece of the pie or worse, increase healthcare costs by attaining more leverage. I hope we take a look at the U.K. and incentive the changes in the antitrust safe harbor to incentivize ACOs to build a strong foundation of primary care. Who knows, maybe we can even call it Primary Care Trusts.
Source: National Healthcare Reform Magazine
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