Accountable Care Organization, Healthcare Big Data, Healthcare Portal, and ACO Implementation Resources
FEATURED ARTICLES: ACO
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![HIT]( "Physicians Question CCHIT's HIT Framework Report")
Physicians Question CCHIT's HIT Framework ReportWhile CCHIT’s framework stresses the development health IT, physicians question its feasibility. By Greg Bengel, contributing writer
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A New PHM Platform Saves An ACO Thousands Of Physician Hours3/26/2014
For OSF HealthCare, manually identifying costly patients was wasting both time and money.
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Providers Encourage Shared Accountability With Patients6/17/2014
More providers are asking patients to read medical records and spot errors. By Christine Kern, contributing writer
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RACs Labeled “Bounty Hunters” By One Healthcare Provider8/23/2013
In a presentation, one provider explains the RAC program and the stress it places on hospitals By Greg Bengel, contributing writer
CASE STUDIES & WHITE PAPERS
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Get The Most Out Of Going Mobile: Best Practices In mHealth Implementation3/26/2013
Our population is becoming more mobile on a daily basis, and healthcare professionals are no exception. In fact, the very nature of the healthcare industry makes it ripe for a move to mobile. It also presents special implementation challenges.
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EHR Solution Addresses Quality And Operational Issues At Women’s Healthcare Of Illinois10/15/2012
This case study from Greenway takes a look at Women’s Healthcare of Illinois, a two-location provider in the Chicago area, providing an array of advanced female medical services. Women’s Healthcare is currently experiencing a number of quality and operational issues that it wanted to address, all of which involved a move from paper charts to electronic health records (EHRs).
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Five Steps To Building A Successful Health Information Exchange8/11/2011This white paper provides insider tips to creating an HIE that improves clinical integration; enhances patient safety; and achieves enterprise, community, and statewide healthcare connectivity.
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Finding The ROI In Clinical IT Systems10/25/2012
Beacon Partners conducted this particular study in the summer of 2012 to analyze how hospitals and care delivery organizations are using clinical system performance measures as a way to calculate the return-on-investment (ROI) of electronic medical records (EMRs) systems.
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