Accountable Care Organizations

One of the most revolutionary healthcare delivery is accountable care organizations. Responsible care organizations (ACOs) are healthcare providers such as nurses, physicians, and hospitals who voluntarily improve care coordination (CMS.gov, 2021). The healthcare providers establish agreements with payers. ACOs must meet quality performance standards and reduce healthcare spending by a certain limit set by Medicare to qualify for reimbursements for their cost-saving healthcare services (CMS.gov, 2021). The enactment of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) in 2010 by former President Obama laid the foundation for developing ACOs (Moy et al., 2021). ACOs have been beneficial in achieving quality improvement objectives and reducing healthcare services’ costs by focusing on population health management.

The best benefits that patients gain from ACOs are low healthcare costs and improved quality of healthcare savings. Healthcare acts like ACA focus on reducing healthcare spending (Moy et al., 2021). ACOs have since focused on reducing the cost of healthcare services. Hospitals and physicians are implementing systems and protocols that ensure efficiency and have lowered healthcare costs. Providers under ACOs are implementing disease prevention strategies and reducing or eliminating unnecessary medical procedures and interventions to get a share of the savings reimbursements from Medicare. In ACOs, there are reduced emergency department visits and hospital admissions. ACO also improves population health management and patient outcomes by developing innovative methods such as disease prevention and wellness promotion, reducing the likelihood of contracting diseases and leading to a healthier population (Wilson et al., 2020). Patients benefit greatly since they have improved healthcare outcomes, get quality medical services, have a broader engagement with healthcare professionals, and reduce out-of-pocket spending.

References

CMS.gov. (2021, March 4). Accountable care organizations (ACOs). Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services | CMS. https://www.cms.gov/Medicare/Medicare-Fee-for-Service-Payment/ACO

Moy, H. P., Giardino, A. P., & Varacallo, M. (2021, February 14). Accountable care organization. National Center for Biotechnology Information. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK448136/

Wilson, M., Guta, A., Waddell, K., Lavis, J., Reid, R., & Evans, C. (2020). The impacts of accountable care organizations on patient experience, health outcomes, and costs: A rapid review. Journal of Health Services Research & Policy, 25(2), 130-138. https://doi.org/10.1177/1355819620913141

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Accountable Care Organizations

Describe one innovative healthcare delivery model that incorporates an interdisciplinary care delivery team. Explain how this model is advantageous to patient outcomes.