ACOs and Developments in Coordinated Care Delivery, Shared Savings and Bundled Payments
The recently enacted Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act has generated significant interest in a new form of integrated delivery system known as an accountable care organization (ACO). The Act specifically creates a separate ACO demonstration project within the Medicare Program, and provides for the implementation of several other coordinated care demonstration programs and the creation of a new entity within the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services that has the authority to test proposed methods of coordinated care delivery. All health systems, community hospitals and physician groups should swiftly consider and carefully analyze forming or otherwise participating in an ACO or similar organization in order to respond effectively to the emerging changes in U.S. health care flowing from the new federal health care reform law and related initiatives sponsored by commercial payors.
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