Accountable Care Organization, Healthcare Big Data, Healthcare Portal, and ACO Implementation Resources
FEATURED ARTICLES: ACO
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Stage 2 MU Sticking Points
Patient engagement and medical image integration are the top Stage 2 Meaningful Use concerns for many providers. Learn how these four EHR early adopters plan to tackle these issues and achieve successful attestation.
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ACOs Don't Limit Use Of Cardiovascular Care2/20/2015
ACOs do not capitalize on savings opportunities, according to latest study. By Christine Kern, contributing writer
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HHS Aims To Reduce Health IT Errors7/10/2013
New plan to guide health IT provides venue for clinicians to report incidents using CEHRT By Lisa Kerner, contributing writer
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MGMA 13 Helps Practices Weather The Storm10/15/2013
Medical practices are being bombarded with a variety of new challenges, including health IT demands and reimbursement changes. MGMA 13 provided attendees with some much needed advice. Here are my top three takeaways from the event.
CASE STUDIES & WHITE PAPERS
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Reinventing Healthcare For The 21st Century11/21/2012
Both developed and emerging countries face three global megatrends that will have a crippling impact on their economies and societies if not addressed in the near future.
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White Paper: Transforming IT For Accountable Healthcare5/5/2011This February 2011 white paper looks at the impact of ARRA and PPACA on provider organizations and the role IT can play in preparing healthcare providers for future success in the evolving landscape. An IDC Health Insights White Paper sponsored by HP
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How Is Clinical Decision Support Technology Driving Successful ACOs?12/8/2014
The movement to enhance and streamline healthcare through accountable care organizations (ACOs) is well underway in the wake of the issuance of final rules by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) in October 2011. Designed as patient-centered initiatives that help doctors, hospitals and other healthcare organizations better coordinate patient care, ACOs are fundamentally structured to incentivize participating healthcare groups for achieving an aggressive set of cost and quality measures built upon improved communication, data sharing and decision making.
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Reduce Readmissions By Automating Post-Discharge Care12/12/2011This white paper is aimed at helping facilities understand ways to eliminate systemic failures that begin in the hospital and then persist through fragmented healthcare settings.
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