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
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