Where is gainsharing?

CMS signals further delays to a gainsharing demonstration program mandated under the Deficit Reduction Act of 2005 with a July 5 solicitation for more applicants. A "limited response from rural hospitals" to the original solicitation in September prompted a 1notice in the Federal Register asking more rural hospitals to submit proposals for sharing payments between physicians and hospitals to improve quality and efficiency of care. The demo, originally slated to begin in January 2007, will take place at six hospitals, two of which must be rural (2"The Gray Sheet" Sept. 25, 2006, p. 12). New applications are due Sept. 4. A second CMS demonstration program authorized under the Medicare Modernization Act "is a little bit further behind," said Acting Deputy Administrator Herb Kuhn in May...