The Justice Department’s antitrust chief addressed concerns Monday about the effect of last year’s health care law on competition among medical providers.
Assistant Attorney General Christine Varney said her office is keeping an eye on accountable care organizations, which are groups made up of physicians and hospitals that share the duty of caring for patients. The organizations were authorized by the health care law to cut costs, but providers want guarantees from the government they won’t run afoul of antitrust laws in forming them.
Speaking at the left-leaning Center for American Progress think tank, Varney said that her division is working with federal agencies that handle Medicare and Medicaid matters to make sure that accountable care organizations will give consumers first-rate, cost-effective health care. The organizations are slated to begin operation in January 2012.
“The success of health care reform will depend as much upon healthy competitive markets as it will on regulatory change,” Varney said. “If health care reform is to harness the power of competitive markets to produce more efficient systems and higher quality health care delivery, then we must guard against undue concentration or anti-competitive conduct in these markets with responsible enforcement and effective advocacy.”
Varney said her division will give providers “clear and practicable guidance” on how to establish accountable care organizations that are compliant with antitrust laws. But details on accountable care organizations are still hazy.
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, the federal agency that runs the programs, hasn’t released complete rules for accountable care organizations yet. What is known, however, is that the health care law says accountable care organizations would stand to receive extra money for reducing costs for Medicare patients.
Medicare traditionally has rewarded health care providers for more services and spending. The accountable care organizations provision of the health care law is part of an effort to reduce the spending for Medicare, which cost $509 billion in 2009 and is expected to rise in the coming years. Accountable care organizations could save about $4.9 billion through 2019, according to the Congressional Budget Office.
Some in the medical community fear that accountable care organizations could control certain markets through hospital mergers and doctor acquisitions, hurting competition. Varney said her division will closely monitor developments with accountable care organizations and the continued evolution of the health care system.
“As our health care system evolves, the Antitrust Division will be there every step of the way,” Varney said.
A video of her remarks and a panel discussion at the Center for American Progress on accountable care organizations is below.
