In the letter to the FTC, the ASA agreed with the remarks made by the American Medical Association and emphasized several additional points:
• ACO requirements may require excessive resources. According to the letter, the ASA is concerned that the proposed ACO clinical integration requirements unnecessarily require resources that many physician practices do not possess. This could force hospitals to acquire physician practices, including anesthesiologists. The ASA agreed with the AMA that the FTC/DOJ should set forth clear and common sense antitrust rules that explicitly permit and encourage physicians to pursue ACO integration options that are not hospital-driven.
• ACO organizations should receive same antitrust analysis regardless of formation date. The ASA pointed out that the proposed FTC/DOJ policy applies to collaborations formed after March 23, 2010. The ASA believes that the “relatively arbitrary demarcation” should be clarified and that organizations seeking to form an ACO should receive the same antitrust analysis regardless of the ACO formation date.
• ACOs should continue to receive “rule of reason” analysis even if they no longer participate in the Shared Savings Program. The ASA strongly supports the application of the “rule of reason” analysis to ACOs but believes that ACOs should continue to receive the rule of reason treatment even if they no longer participate in the Shared Savings Program. The ASA believes physicians would be discouraged from developing or participating in an ACO if that ACO were only subject to the rule of reason for three years and then became potentially subject to a stricter per se condemnation.
Read the letter from the American Society of Anesthesiologists to the Federal Trade Commission.
Read the FTC proposed statement.
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