Accountable Care Organizations:
A Post-Acute Perspective
By Reginald M. Hislop, III
Suffice to say, I am behind in getting this post "out". My best intentions of a month or so ago were quickly dashed by other more pressing ommitments. Nonetheless, I did read the proposed regulations as produced by the Department of Health and Human Services/CMS on April 7 and worked through a stack of research on the subject of Accountable Care Organizations; loosely coined by me, the Good, the Bad and the Ugly.
In the purest of definitions, easily lost within the DHHS/CMS proposed regulations, Accountable Care Organizations (ACO) are about improving patient care outcomes and satisfaction while reducing cost or expenditures for care. At the core of the premise about "why" and "how" an ACO would work in achieving better care, higher satisfaction and lower costs are three key assumptions or "truisms".
1. Best practices via algorithms and care pathways exist in sufficient supply, tested and proven, to reduce the variability that drives higher cost and lower satisfaction for a large and growing number of common patient care issues.
2. Satisfaction is directly correlated to increased patient knowledge and communication, reduced bureaucracy at the provider level (fewer redundant steps) and better outcomes, more directly delivered and/or attained.
3. Providers, properly incentivized to focus on outcomes and satisfaction will gravitate toward any and all steps and measures that improve outcomes and satisfaction and resultingly, deliver better and cheaper (less costly) care. The key is developing the right level of incentives that drive provider behavior in the desired direction.
To read more of Reg's blog, please click here
|
