Doug Hastings, Chair Emeritus of the Firm, based in the Washington, DC, office, was quoted in MedPage Today, in “HHS Push on Paying for Quality Has Its Critics,” by Joyce Frieden.

Following is an excerpt:

Doug Hastings, a healthcare attorney at Epstein Becker Green, a law firm here, said he saw yesterday's announcement more as an aspirational statement.

"Clearly, it can be daunting to an individual provider ... or an ACO to actually try to figure out how to be successful in a changing reimbursement environment ... [especially] if you're still getting paid on a fee-for-service basis for a lot of stuff," he told MedPage Today. "But should a thoughtful, forward-looking provider be so daunted as to say, 'I'm going to back off' or 'I'm not going in that direction'? I would say 'no.'"

"I would say the goals are aspirational, but not unattainable. Only time will tell," he added.

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