FEATURED ARTICLES: ACO
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Avoiding IT HIPAA Hazards
With the passage of the Omnibus Final Ruling in September, 2013, many healthcare IT directors were faced with a seemingly simple question by their organizations’ senior management: “are we or aren't we HIPAA Compliant .” It seems like a simple question, but ever since the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) was enacted in 1996, hospitals, group practices and other covered entities have struggled with their response. Even with fifteen years to prepare, many providers were still scrambling to meet all the requirements defined in the Omnibus Rule. Rob Humphreys, product manager, eFax Corporate
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Physician Note Transparency Embraced By Patients12/30/2013
Allowing patients and their families’ access to doctors’ notes could improve accuracy and safety according to several participants in the Open Notes Program. By Katie Wike, contributing writer
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ACO Success Hinges On Provider/Patient Communication7/30/2013
New data released from BerylHealth shows the great potential of ACOs and indicates that success is dependent on patient outreach and care coordination By Greg Bengel, contributing writer
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ACOs: Healthcare’s Future, Or An Inevitable Failure?4/2/2013
The term Accountable Care Organization has been around since 2006 and, in 2009, became part of the healthcare industry landscape when it was included in the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. BerylHealth created this infographic which provides a wealth of ACO-related information from the amount of the U.S. GDP spent on healthcare (15%) to the number of quality measures ACOs are measured on (33). By John Oncea, editor, Health IT Outcomes
CASE STUDIES & WHITE PAPERS
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Novant Health Reduces Transcription TAT From Days To Hours, Doubles MT Productivity4/16/2012
Novant Health’s 1,117 physicians, 13 hospitals, and 360 clinic locations serve more than 3.5 million patients from Northern Virginia to Georgia. Efficient, accurate capture and transfer of information from more than 1,500 dictating clinicians enables award-winning levels of quality and care.
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Enabling Collaborative Healthcare Delivery: Care Coordination Strategies With 21st Century Technology11/9/2011In 2003, the Institute of Medicine (IOM) identified care coordination as one of its 20 national priorities for quality. Since then, other prominent organizations, such as the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), the Commonwealth Fund, the National Quality Forum, and the World Health Organization, have recognized care coordination as a key component for improving healthcare delivery. By Intel
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PQRS Initiative Yields $70,000 ROI For Clinic2/28/2012In this case study, find out how Birmingham Heart Clinic was able to boost charge capture, per-provider income, and patient visits within the first 12 months of deploying integrated HER, practice management, and interoperability solution.
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Provider’s Perceptions On Mobility In Healthcare8/24/2011Porter Research and Billian’s HealthDATA have collaborated to bring you this primary market research program aimed at understanding healthcare providers’ perceptions regarding mobility in healthcare.
FROM THE EDITOR'S DESK
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The Problem With Consumerism In Healthcare
Many industry leaders championed a free market approach to healthcare during the 12th Annual World Health Care Congress last week. Here are a few key reasons why I don’t think this model is “the fix” our industry so desperately needs.
ABOUT ACCOUNTABLE CARE ORGANIZATIONS (ACO)
An Accountable Care Organization (ACO) utilizes a payment and care delivery system that bases payments to providers on quality metrics and seeks to reduce the total cost of care for a certain population of patients. ACOs use a range of payment models and consist of groups of coordinated healthcare providers that provide care to groups of patients. ACOs are accountable to a third-party payer and the group of patients for the appropriateness, quality, and efficiency of the health services they provide.
In 2011, the Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) set forth initial guidelines for ACOs to be created under the Medicare Shared Savings Program. These guidelines contained all necessary steps required for a physician, health care provider, or hospital to voluntarily participate in ACOs.
The quality measures used to evaluate an ACO's performance as defined by the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) fall into five domains. These domains are patient/caregiver experience, care coordination, patient safety, preventative health, and at-risk population/frail elderly health.
The three stakeholders in an ACO are the providers, payers, and patients. Providers are a network of hospitals, physicians, and other healthcare professionals. The primary payer is the federal government, Medicare, but also includes other payers such as private insurances or employee-purchased insurance. The patient population of an ACO will primarily consist of Medicare beneficiaries, but in larger ACOs can also include those who are homeless and uninsured.
FEATURED NEWS
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ACOs Face Interoperability Barriers2/8/2016
According to a new report, a lack of out-of-network interoperability is the biggest obstacle facing ACOs today. By Katie Wike, contributing writer
ACO NEWS ARTICLES
- Upcoming Webinar: Data-Driven Care: The Key To Accountable Care Delivery From A Physician Group Perspective
- WEDI Releases Guide On HIPAA Transactions Requiring ICD-10 Codes
- Automated Quality Reporting Through EHRs Can Result In Significant Efficiencies And Care Improvements
- CMS Releases Updated Data On EHR Adoption
- West Florida ACO Chooses Sandlot Solutions As Partner In Patient Health Information Management