NEJM Highlights May 2015: a read on ACO performance, progress in cystic fibrosis treatment, yes developing new drugs is expensive, rethinking industry-medicine relationships, CVS Caremark and smoking cessation
Marc Herant
May 29, 2015
Early results of the ACO experiment: directionally right, but impact is still small In this study, the authors compare metrics for Medicare beneficiaries assigned to the 32 ACOs part of the Pioneer program vs. matched beneficiaries who were not in an ACO. With respect to costs, they find that compared to contemporaneous trends observed in non-ACO members, the ACO beneficiaries yearly spending was approximately $100 below trend (a 1% savings). In a hint of a reversal of a secular trend in health care, office spending visit expenditure increased more in