3 traits of successful ACOs: A focus on internal culture, population health and continuous improvement

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Forming an accountable care organization is one of the most common strategies healthcare organizations use to transition to value-based care, and several key characteristics and tactics from the most high-performing ones can help other providers build their own successful programs, according to a new report. The Health Care Transformation Task Force studied 11 ACOs across the country by interviewing key…

CHRONIC Act, which expands Medicare coverage for telemedicine, passes in Senate

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Senate Bill 870, the Creating High-Quality Results and Outcomes Necessary to Improve Chronic Care Act of 2017, or CHRONIC Act for short, has passed in the Senate by a unanimous vote. Among other things, the bill, which was originally introduced in April by Senator Orrin Hatch (R – Utah), includes provisions that would expand Medicare coverage for telemedicine. Full…

Care Coordination an Obstacle to Meeting ACO Objectives

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Accountable care organizations (ACO) are aimed at decreasing costs while improving quality of care but Massachusetts emergency department directors report an inability to meet ACO goals. Challenges with care coordination often stand in the way of hospitals meeting ACO objectives according to 62% of Massachusetts emergency department (ED) directors that responded to an Annals of…

Understanding Health Equity in Value-Based Patient Care

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Care quality, disease management, and genetic makeup are core parts of patient health. However, stakeholders must also acknowledge that patient health is much more than medical interventions. This is especially true with value-based patient care taking hold and key concepts such as health equity emerging. Understanding the different components of health equity is the first…

3 Innovative Programs of Highly Successful ACOs

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Accountable care may still be a relatively new model in some areas, but the numbers of ACOs are steadily increasing. There were approximately 660 ACOs in the U.S. in 2015. The number increased to 838 last year. Success, however, can be elusive. Only about one-fourth of U.S. hospitals entered into value-based contracts have been able…

A Day in the Life of an ACO Chief Executive

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Transforming a $3.2+ trillion dollar economy where approximately 1 in 5 dollars of GDP finds its way into the healthcare financing and delivery ecosystem is no small challenge. Decades of variably branded health policy initiatives from HMOs and PPOs to their arguably derivative reincarnated ‘brethren’ ACOs all presented with the promise of taming what remains…

Core Competencies for Accountable Care Organization Development

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July 13, 2017 – The National Business Group on Health (NBGH) recently identified the core competencies accountable care organizations (ACOs) should have at each stage of its development. The two resources from NBGH on ACO competencies are meant to help employers who are considering adding an ACO to their health coverage options. The scoring guide and…

How Care Management, Care Coordination Differ in Health IT

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The terms “care management” and “care coordination” are starting to take on slightly different flavors in the health IT world as software companies create new offerings for the growing value-based care marketplace, says a new report by Chillmark Research. Healthcare organizations are exhibiting a growing appetite for patient management tools to support population health management…