What rights do I have if my doctor is in an ACO?

You’ll continue to have the same rights all people with Medicare get. To help you to get the best-coordinated and highest quality care, Medicare will share certain information about your medical care with your doctor’s ACO, including medical conditions, prescriptions, and visits to the doctor unless you have called 1-800-MEDICARE to tell Medicare not to share your health care information with your doctor’s ACO or other ACOs. This information is important to help the ACO keep up with your medical needs and track how well the ACO is doing to keep you healthy.

Also, you may get a follow-up survey to ask about your experiences as a patient of a doctor who’s participating in an ACO. You’ll get a letter to let you know the suvey is genuine. The ACO will use your feedback to help make sure you get high quality care.

ACOs are required to respect your privacy so you have to option to tell us not to share your health care information. You must call 1-800-MEDICARE (1-800-633-4227) to tell medicare not to share information about your care with your doctor’s ACO or any other ACO. TTY users should call 1-877-486-2048. Unless you take this step, your medical information will be shared with your doctor’s ACO for purposes of care coordination and quality improvement.