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About The Siuslaw news. (Florence, Lane County, Or.) 1960-current | View Entire Issue (Jan. 7, 2015)
SIUSLAW NEWS ❚ WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 7, 2015 PeaceHealth selected to participate in ACO program PeaceHealth Peace Harbor Medical Center has been selected as one of 89 new Medicare Shared Savings Program Accountable Care Organizations (ACOs), provid- ing approximately 1.6 million additional Medicare beneficiar- ies with access to high-quality, coordinated care across the United States, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) has announced. That brings the total to 405 Shared Savings Program ACOs serving over 7.2 million benefi- ciaries. Doctors, hospitals and health care providers establish ACOs in order to work together to provide higher-quality coordi- nated care to their patients, while helping to slow health care cost growth. PeaceHealth Peace Harbor Medical Center will be one of 405 ACOs par- ticipating in the Shared Savings Program that began Jan. 1, 2015. Beneficiaries seeing health care providers in ACOs always have the freedom to choose doctors inside or outside of the ACO. ACOs share with Medicare savings generated from lower- ing the growth in health care costs when they meet standards for high quality care. ACOs are groups of doctors, hospitals and other health care providers that work together to give Medicare beneficiaries in Original Medicare (fee-for- service) high quality, coordi- nated care. ACOs can share in any sav- ings they generate for Medicare, if they meet speci- fied quality targets. “PeaceHealth Peace Harbor Medical Center will be joining a program that is one part of this administration's vision for improving the coordination and integration of care received by Medicare benefici- I N BRIEF Port special meeting set for tomorrow The Port of Siuslaw Board of Commissioners will hold a special meeting on Thursday, Jan. 8, 2015, at 9 a.m., at the port office, 100 Harbor St. This meeting is a work ses- sion to review and discuss the 2013-18 Strategic Business Plan. Port meetings are open to the public. For more information, con- tact the port office at 541-997- 3426. FECWS committee to meet tomorrow The Florence Cold Weather Shelter Committee will meet Thursday, Jan. 8, at 9:30 a.m., in St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church on 19th Street. The group will discuss in detail its first opening, plans for moving forward, and the urgent need for fundraising. Women Veterans to meet Jan. 9 The January 2015 Coastal Women Veterans will be hav- ing its monthly luncheon at The Surfside Resturant at Driftwood Shores, 88416 First Ave., on Friday, Jan. 9, at 11:30 a.m. All military veterans are invited to attend. RSVP to Terri Penningrton at 541-999-2400, or email her at Terri 32dunes@oregon- fast.net. Mapleton Lions host pancake breakfast The Mapleton Lions Club will hold its next monthly pan- cake breakfast Sunday, Jan. 11, from 7:30 to 10:30 a.m, at the Mapleton Lions Club, 88148 Riverview Dr., in Mapleton. Menu will include pancakes, sausage, ham and eggs. Cost is $7 for adults and $3 for children. aries,” said Sean Cavanaugh, deputy administrator and direc- tor, Center for Medicare. “We look forward to continuing this partnership with PeaceHealth Peace Harbor Medical Center in increasing value and care coordination across the health system.” Since ACOs first began par- ticipating in the program in early 2012, thousands of health care providers have signed on to participate in the program, working together to provide better care to Medicare’s sen- iors and people with disabili- ties. The 89 new ACOs will bring approximately 23,000 addi- tional physicians and other providers into the ACO pro- gram. ACOs are starting to see promising results. Last fall, CMS released the early findings from the ACOs who started the program in 2012. ACOs improved on 30 of the 33 quality measures in the first two years, including patients’ ratings of clinicians’ communication, beneficiaries’ rating of their doctors, and screening for high blood pres- sure. ACOs also outperformed group practices reporting qual- ity on 17 out of 22 measures. ACOs are also demonstrating promising results on cost sav- ings with combined total pro- gram savings of $417 million for the Shared Savings Program and the pioneer ACO model. While CMS is encouraged by what they have seen so far, they also understand there are opportunities to improve the program to make it stronger. Earlier this month, it published a proposed rule to update the guidelines for the program. CMS is looking forward to receiving comments from ACOs, beneficiaries, and their advocates, providers, and other stakeholders interested in see- ing the ACOs succeed long- term. ACOs are also just one way that CMS is working to reduce the rate of growth in Medicare spending while improving care. Medicare spending per beneficiary was essentially flat in nominal dollars in fiscal year 2014, and from 2010 to 2014, Medicare spending per benefi- ciary grew at a rate that was two percentage points per year less than growth in GDP per capita. While the recent slow cost growth has multiple causes, our reforms in the Medicare and Medicaid programs are mean- ingful contributors to these gains and are improving quali- ty as well. Preliminary data for 2013, for example, indicates improvements in patient safety has resulted in 50,000 fewer deaths, 1.3 million fewer patient harms, and $12 billion in avoided health care spend- ing. Recent research implies that many of these reforms may be generating savings in the pri- vate sector as well. Grano appointed to WLCF board for 2015-18 At its annual meeting held in December, Western Lane Community Foundation (WLCF) announced the appointment of Jim Grano to a three-year term on its Board of Directors. Grano joins the board after 15 years teaching at Mapleton High School and then for 18 years at Siuslaw Middle School. He and his wife, Barbara, live in Mapleton. In 1995, Grano formed the Stream Team, where students learned about the Siuslaw River, its environment and its marine life. Trips to salmon traps and assisting the Salmon and Trout Enhancement Program were highlights. The program is now called Watershed Studies for grades three through eight in Florence. Grano is a past president of the Mapleton Lions Club board and is currently on the board of directors of the Watershed Council. WLCF is celebrating its 40th anniversary this year, having awarded more than $2,400,000 in scholarships and grants to local nonprofits. The current grant cycle ends Jan. 15 for grant requests. Scholarships for 2015 will be awarded in the spring to grad- uating Mapleton and Siuslaw High School students. For more information, con- tact WLCF Executive Director Gayle Waiss at 541-997-1274, or visit wlcf@wlcfonline.org. CYAN MAGENTA YELLOW BLACK 12 A
