Health care input needed before changes

The health care law establishes an ACO - Accountable Care Organization - for Medicare patients. The regulations have just been issued, and hospitals are hiring consultants to become educated about them. The ACO will establish pay-per-performance for those health organizations that choose to establish an ACO. The money can be substantial, but there is a lot we do not know about.

The ACO can - nobody is certain - be a sort of HMO, in which the patient may be restricted in choice of physician or hospital. The ACO is accountable for your health care - in terms of medicine and in terms of money - and needs a measure of control. Issues are uncertain, and few in the field will guess about the future.

This is the time to talk to your doctor and have him talk to his supervisors at the hospital. You cannot wait until all the contracts are signed, and you are stuck. This is the time to talk to your elected officials, to ensure that they have input into any exemptions that can be created.

If you want access to the University of Iowa or Mayo Clinic, start now, today, or you could be stuck. It will be too late after contracts are signed.

Niles Ross

Cedar Rapids