Whitepaper: Risk, MACRA exclusion have ACOs at 'crossroads'
The accountable care organization (ACO) model faces a pivotal moment, and its success or failure depends on what the federal government does next, argues a new white paper from the National Association of ACOs (NAACOS).
The CMS is planning major changes to the financial incentives for Medicare accountable care organizations in a revamp aimed at preventing hospitals and medical groups from dropping out of the initiative. A proposed rule issued late Monday (PDF)would alter the structure of the Medicare Shared Savings Program, an attempt launched in 2012 under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act to reduce U.S. health spending with new incentives that seek to improve the quality and efficiency of healthcare.
Physician partners, data systems, and assignment of risk all play an important part in the care and feeding of ACOs
Care coordination networks are a mainstay of the Affordable Care Act’s cost reduction goals. Accountable care organizations, or ACOs, are the most widely recognized of these networks, yet by no means is design of these business arrangements simple or straightforward.
In a basic sense, an ACO joins physicians and hospitals to collectively share financial and medical responsibility for a defined group of patients over a certain period of time. But the universe of possible structures is quite large.
More than 50 attendees spent two days here learning how the power of data, better use of staff, and advances like telehealth can free up primary care physicians (PCPs) for their core mission: spending more time with patients whose complex conditions put them at risk for driving up healthcare costs. The ACO and Emerging Healthcare Coalition, a multistakeholder initiative of The American Journal of Managed Care, held its second live meeting October 16-17, 2014, at the Miami Marriott Biscayne Bay.
