Despite entering the Dog Days of Summer, ACO developments continue to unfold in a flurry. The week started with The New York Times’ Robert Pear reporting that HHS will be hiring consultants to serve as secret healthcare shoppers, to check wait times for primary care physicians. Clearly not well received, that plan was reversed just two days later.
A survey issued midweek in Politico Pro of 3,000 health care industry professionals shows a high level of interest in ACOs continues (subscription required). The survey was conducted by KPMG and others.
Finally, The Los Angeles Times announced an hour long chat on the nation’s transition to electronic medical records. The chat, to take place July 7th at 11 a.m. CT (12 p.m. ET/9 a.m. PT) will be moderated by Chicago Tribune health care reporter Bruce Japsen and feature panelists Jim Anfield (senior director, health information technology for Health Care Service Corp., parent of Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Illinois) and Bill Flamm (the director of finance, information systems and operations for Chicago area medical group Pronger Smith MedicalCare, a group of 60 physicians with multi-specialties that has patients largely on Chicago’s South Side and south and southwestern suburbs). How do you think electronic medical records will change health care delivery in an ACO system?
