CHICAGO, Ill. (Dec. 23, 2013)—The new contracts, which bring the total number of Medicare ACOs to more than 360, come as there is still little known about how the earlier adopters have fared in the program, which was established under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. The first cohort of organizations in the Shared Savings Program, numbering 27, entered the program in April 2012. The majority of the new ACOs are physician-led and each serve fewer than 10,000 beneficiaries.
SILVER SPRING, Md. (Dec. 19, 2013)—The Food and Drug Administration is looking to shorten the time medical-device manufacturers wait before health plans will pay for products after they're approved. The newly formed Medical Device Reimbursement Task Force will create a formal process that allows a device company to request a pre-submission meeting with FDA staff and one or more private payers.