Abstract
In 2012, 27 organizations will initiate participation in the Medicare Shared Savings Program as Accountable Care Organizations. This level of participation reflects the response of Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services to criticism that the program as outlined in the proposed rule was overly burdensome, prescriptive, and too risky. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Service made significant changes in the final rule, making the Accountable Care Organization program more attractive to these participants. However, none of these changes addressed the serious concerns raised by subspecialty societies-including the American Society of Nephrology-regarding care of patients with multiple chronic comorbidities and complex and end stage conditions. Virtually all of these concerns remain unaddressed, and consequently, Accountable Care Organizations will require guidance and partnership from the nephrology community to ensure that these patients are identified and receive the individualized care that they require. Although the final rule fell short of addressing the needs of patients with kidney disease, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation presents an opportunity to test the potentially beneficial concepts of the Accountable Care Organization program within this patient population. The American Society of Nephrology Accountable Care Organization Task Force developed a set of principles that must be reflected in a possible pilot program or demonstration project of an integrated nephrology care delivery model. These principles include preserving a leadership role for nephrologists, encompassing care for patients with later-stage CKD and kidney transplants as well as ESRD, enabling the participation of a diversity of dialysis provider sizes and types, facilitating research, and establishing monitoring systems to identify and address preferential patient selection or changes in outcomes.