Intermountain Healthcare, a 23-hospital system based in Salt Lake City, says it will defer decisions regarding a Medicare accountable care organization until 2012, according to a statement from the system.
"It's too early to tell if Intermountain will participate with an ACO, and a decision wouldn't have to be made until 2012," the statement reads. "The original ACO proposed rules didn't appear be a good fit for our organization. The final rules that were just released are about 750 pages in length and we haven't yet had time to review them in detail — that's something we'll do in the coming months."
In May, an Intermountain official said the system was past the ACO concept and was already examining other ideas. It was one of the systems, along with Mayo Clinic, Cleveland Clinic and Geisinger Health, that expressed little interest in the program even though such highly-integrated organizations are often called the "poster children" for ACOs.
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"It's too early to tell if Intermountain will participate with an ACO, and a decision wouldn't have to be made until 2012," the statement reads. "The original ACO proposed rules didn't appear be a good fit for our organization. The final rules that were just released are about 750 pages in length and we haven't yet had time to review them in detail — that's something we'll do in the coming months."
In May, an Intermountain official said the system was past the ACO concept and was already examining other ideas. It was one of the systems, along with Mayo Clinic, Cleveland Clinic and Geisinger Health, that expressed little interest in the program even though such highly-integrated organizations are often called the "poster children" for ACOs.
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