Accountable Care Organizations

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Accountable Care Organization's - Will they work? I. Introduction Accountable Care Organizations (ACOs) are groups of doctors, hospitals, and other health care providers, who come together voluntarily to give coordinated high quality care to their Medicare patients. ACOs are an appealing model as they attempt to transform the future of health care by improving care coordination and quality for patients. In return for taking on the risk of reducing health care costs, while improving coordination and quality, ACOs may receive financial rewards through shared savings with Medicare. The shared savings opportunity for ACOs is effective as of January 2012. II. Overview Because of the need to stem the spiraling costs of the Medicare program…show more content…
According to a new report issued by CMS, patients with multiple chronic conditions account for 93% of Medicare fee-for-service expenditures (9). These patients often receive care from multiple physicians. A failure to coordinate care is when patients often receive duplicative care from multiple physicians. Also, lack of coordinated care leads to an increased risk of medical errors and readmissions. Each year, one in seven Medicare patients admitted to a hospital has been subject to a harmful medical mistake during the course of their care (9). And, nearly one in five Medicare patients discharged from the hospital is readmitted within 30 days (9). The cost of care due to additional services from medical errors and readmissions unnecessarily drives up the cost of Medicare. According to a Medicare analysis of the ACO model, Medicare could potentially save as much as $960 million over three years…show more content…
The key external stakeholder is the federal government which is pouring in large funding to support programs and initiatives to support organizations to achieving ACO goals. State and local agencies are also external stakeholders as they disseminate information from the federal level as well. Consumers are an external stakeholder since they are the recipient of care. Internal stakeholders include physicians, hospitals, and health care executives. Payers, in both the private and public sectors, are internal stakeholders because they align payment models to ensure that care is being delivered under reasonable and customary fee

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