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CMS wants Medicare accountable care organizations to take on more risk, but the agency is pulling back on the reins for a few more years — a move that experts say isn’t surprising given providers’ reticence to expose themselves to penalties if they don’t perform to certain standards. (Pradhan, 12/1)

Health care systems experimenting with a new way of being paid by Medicare would have three extra years before they could be punished for poor performance, the federal government proposed Monday. The proposal is one of dozens of changes that the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services wants to make to rules governing accountable care organizations. ACOs are affiliations of doctors, hospitals and other providers that jointly care for Medicare patients with the goal of pocketing a portion of what they save the government. Those that spend above Medicare estimates stand to lose money. (Rau, 12/1)