ACOs To Cover 130 Million By 2017

By Katie Wike, contributing writer

Parks Associates predicts more than 130 million patients will receive care from an accountable care organization by 2017.

ACO participation has nearly quadrupled since 2012. According to a recent report from Parks Associates, by 2017 accountable care organizations will be providing healthcare for more than 130 million patients. This is due in part to the pressure placed on organizations by the Affordable Care Act to provide quality care while still finding a way to contain costs.

EHR Intelligence reports that, because of this, "healthcare providers are ramping up their efforts to seek methods of containing costs, squeezing out waste, and adopting new payment structures with the help of the nation’s largest payers and other leadership entities."

“Reforms to the healthcare financial model tie compensation to care outcomes, and ACOs, built on the coordinated care model, align well with this new emphasis," said Harry Wang, Director, Health & Mobile Product Research, Parks Associates. "Parks Associates defines ACOs in the broadest sense to include Medicare ACOs, private-sector Patient-Centered Medical Home practices, and healthcare providers that accept a pay-for-performance arrangement with private and public payers."

Dr. Anthony Slonim, executive director of Barnabas Health ACO-North, LLC explained to Health IT Outcomes that ACOs all have the same three basic elements:

1. They aim to improve care quality and the patient experience while reducing costs.
2. They’re responsible for managing populations of patients.
3. They accept risk — both clinical and financial.

“The digital health markets need to develop business models that make sense while organizations are transitioning to these different care reimbursement models,” said Sandra Elliott, Director, Consumer Technology and Service Development, Meridian Health. “Health and technology providers should focus on providing end-to-end scalable solutions that offer financial benefits to purchasers while showing value to patients as individuals by enabling them to live their life to the fullest, thus encouraging strong consumer engagement.”

Earlier this year, the number of ACOs was predicted to double - three out of four healthcare executive respondents to a survey said their organization had a plan to participate in an ACO in the future. However, of the nearly 50 percent of respondents who predicted their organization would be participating in an ACO by 2013, only one in four will meet their goal.