Policy news: Speculation surrounds soon-to-be released exchange regs

Meanwhile, Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services Administrator Donald Berwick takes a message about accountable care organizations on the road, selling the model in Minneapolis to nurses, doctors and other health professionals.

CQ HealthBeat: Big Exchange Regulation A Good Bet To Bring Big Disappointment
One thing seems quite certain: Health and Human Services officials aren't going to make anybody happy when sometime around the July Fourth weekend they release a proposed regulation that will spell out what states must do to create health insurances exchanges. That's because the data-crunching tasks involved are so complex, the design issues so controversial, and the timelines so tight that at some point advocates for states, consumers, and insurers seem certain to toss their Federal Registers in disgust (Reichard, 6/21).

Politico Pro: Berwick Touts ACOs In Minneapolis
CMS Administrator Don Berwick held the first of four on-the-road meetings Tuesday, speaking to doctors, nurses and other caregivers in Minneapolis to sell the ACO delivery system model. Going off script, Berwick said one of the biggest challenges will be "winning the hearts and minds of primary care" doctors (Coughlin, 6/22).

Minnesota Public Radio: Medical Professionals Incensed Over Bureaucratic Red Tape In Savings Program
The Medicare Shared Savings program is intended to help control costs and improve the quality of health care, but many of these medical centers are complaining about red tape and micro-managing in the government's proposed requirements. ... That program is designed to spur medical groups into creating so-called Accountable Care Organizations or ACOs — organizations designed to better coordinate and track patient care (Stawicki, 6/22).