Ambulatory care service centers can now receive their Medicare accreditation from either the Joint Commission for the Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations or the Accreditation Association for Ambulatory Healthcare. HCFA granted these two groups authority for the next six years. The Justice Department will no longer fight to allow Medicare and Medicaid payments to Christian Science caregivers. Vladeck has been very public about his plans to step down after the agency's reorganization is firmly under way in the summer. A HCFA spokesperson could not confirm the succession, except to say that the press might have gotten ahead of itself.
Manufacturers are supportive.