Main Library
The current ACO model is, indeed, challenging. Blending both provider and payer functions is fraught with conflict. But the provider-directed model was supposed to function closer to the actual delivery of care, and thereby be more capable of generating change. Instead, ACOs have deployed health plan strategies that were implemented decades ago, which failed to stem rising costs: care coordination, management of referrals, restriction of unnecessary (post-acute) services. Why? For one, many ACOs are separate or subordinate partners to the clinical organization, making it harder to establish change. Or so you might think.
ACO groups are continuing to press Medicare for favorable protections to try and achieve slower savings over time. But if you are an ACO, you are better served by reassessing how to deal with the new competitive environment and how to involve clinicians in efforts to achieve better outcomes and lower costs. How realistic is the idea of a major drop in spending from ACO activities—or an overall improvement in patient health—if the clinical care delivered to patients remains the same?