President Obama's health care overhaul is being hit with a new set of arguments, this time by doctors who suggest that a little-known Medicare program within the law creates a potential threat to their autonomy and to patient care.
In an effort to streamline health care delivery for Medicare patients, the provision calls for the formation of Accountable Care Organizations (or ACOs), which are projected to provide high quality care while lowering costs. One of the leading examples of the ACO model is the Mayo Clinic. The law seeks to carry the Mayo Clinic paradigm a step further. Physicians who are able to reduce costs below a benchmark - to be determined by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, the federal agency that administers Medicare and Medicaid - will be rewarded with a share of the savings. The only hitch: a physician must have 5,000 Medicare patients.
Some Doctors Question Medicare Program in Health Law (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/todd-baker/some-doctors-question-med_b_800528.html)