Baroma Health Partners, a subsidiary of Baroma, Inc., has been approved by CMS as a Medicare Shared Savings Program ACO

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

CONTACT: Alex Fundora

January 10, 2013 (888) 315-4490 x 5

More Doctors, Hospitals Partner to Coordinate Care for People with Medicare

Providers Form 106 New Accountable Care Organizations

Miami, FL – BAROMA Health Partners, a wholly owned subsidiary of Baroma, Inc. (OTC

Markets: BRMA), has been selected as one of 106 new Accountable Care Organizations (ACOs)

in Medicare, ensuring as many as 4 million Medicare beneficiaries across the United States now

have access to high-quality, coordinated care, Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary

Kathleen Sebelius announced today.

Doctors and health care providers can establish Accountable Care Organizations in order to work

together to provide higher-quality care to their patients. Since passage of the Affordable Care

Act, more than 250 Accountable Care Organizations have been established. Beneficiaries using

ACOs always have the freedom to choose doctors inside or outside of the ACO. Accountable

Care Organizations share with Medicare any savings generated from lowering the growth in

health care costs, while meeting standards for quality of care.

“Accountable Care Organizations save money for Medicare and deliver higher-quality care to

people with Medicare,” said Secretary Sebelius. “Thanks to the Affordable Care Act, more

doctors and hospitals are working together to give people with Medicare the high-quality care

they expect and deserve.”

ACOs must meet quality standards to ensure that savings are achieved through improving care

coordination and providing care that is appropriate, safe, and timely. The Centers for Medicare

& Medicaid Services (CMS) has established 33 quality measures on care coordination and

patient safety, appropriate use of preventive health services, improved care for at-risk

populations, and patient and caregiver experience of care. Federal savings from this initiative are

up to $940 million over four years.

The new ACOs include a diverse cross-section of physician practices across the country.

Roughly half of all ACOs are physician-led organizations that serve fewer than 10,000

beneficiaries. Approximately 20 percent of ACOs include community health centers, rural

health centers and critical access hospitals that serve low-income and rural communities.

The group announced today also includes 15 Advance Payment Model ACOs, physician-based

or rural providers who would benefit from greater access to capital to invest in staff, electronic

health record systems, or other infrastructure required to improve care coordination. Medicare

will recoup advance payments over time through future shared savings. In addition to these

ACOs, last year CMS launched the Pioneer ACO program for large provider groups able to take

greater financial responsibility for the costs and care of their patients over time. In total,

Medicare’s ACO partners will serve more than 4 million beneficiaries nationwide.

Also today HHS issued a new report showing Affordable Care Act provisions are already having

a substantial effect on reducing the growth rate of Medicare spending. Growth in Medicare

spending per beneficiary hit historic lows during the 2010 to 2012 period, according to the

report. Projections by both the Office of the Actuary at CMS and by the Congressional Budget

Office estimate that Medicare spending per beneficiary will grow at approximately the rate of

growth of the economy for the next decade, breaking a decades-old pattern of spending growth

outstripping economic growth.

Additional information about the Advance Payment Model is available at

http://www.innovations.cms.gov/initiatives/ACO/Advance-Payment/index.html.

The next application period for organizations that wish to participate in the Shared Savings

Program beginning in January 2014 is summer 2013.

More information about the Shared Savings Program is available at

https://www.cms.gov/Medicare/Medicare-Fee-for-Service-

Payment/sharedsavingsprogram/index.html?redirect=/sharedsavingsprogram/

For a list of the 106 new ACOs announced today, visit: http://www.cms.gov/Medicare/Medicare-

Fee-for-Service-Payment/sharedsavingsprogram/News.html