Accountable Care Organizations
Accountable Care Organizations (ACOs): is a number of individuals that consist of health care providers and health care settings, collectively working together to accomplish the goal of improving optimum quality of health care. This network of people may include physicians, surgeons, pharmacists, doctors, nurses, healthcare assistants, caregivers, lab specialists, psychiatrists, mental health professionals, rehabilitation workers, other healthcare specialties and hospitals. This group of people collaboratively work together to coordinate patient care to obtain maximum care for clients and the group “accepts joint responsibility for health care spending and quality for a defined population of patients” (Song, 2014). According to Song (2014), the three key characteristics of the ACO are: “joint accountability,” accountability for both quality of care and health care spending, and the ACO is responsible for the care of a population of people.” In the ACO plan patients have more freedom to choose the type of care within a restricted time period. ACO provides a variety of payment structures and incentives to health care providers and hospitals primarily focusing on quality of care and financial risks to hospitals and physicians. ACO reward health care providers for the quality of care provided to patients, while eliminating irrelevant spending. ACOs do not focus on profit, but the quality of care while MCOs focus on profit.
References:
Andrews, M. (2014). What’s the best health plan for you? HMO, PPO, EPO or POS? Retrieved from
Song, Z. (2014). Accountable Care Organizations in the U.S. Health Care System. J Clin Outcomes Manag. 2014 Aug 1; 21(8): 364–371.