Attributing Patients To Accountable Care Organizations: Performance Year Approach Aligns Stakeholders’ Interests

Attributing patients to accountable care organizations: performance year approach aligns stakeholders' interests.

The accountable care organization (ACO) model of health care delivery is rapidly being implemented under government and private-sector initiatives. The model requires that each ACO have a defined patient population for which the ACO will be held accountable for both total cost of care and quality performance. However, there is no empirical evidence about the best way to define how patients are ...

Patients' role in accountable care organizations.

I ever there were a crisis mo­ ment that crystallized the need for reforming the U.S. health care delivery system, this is it. The 2010 Affordable Care Act (ACA) promises to expand health insur­ ance coverage, a key first step toward improving health equity. But newly insured Americans will gain access to a strained, frag­ mented system that often fails to deliver effective, efficient care. Mea...

Accountable care organizations.

Accountable care organizations.

Accountable care organizations: back to the future?

Accountable Care Organizations (ACOs) are networks of providers that assume risk for the quality and total cost of the care they deliver. Public policymakers and private insurers hope that ACOs will achieve the elusive "triple aim" of improving quality of care, improving population health, and reducing costs. The model is still evolving, but the premise is that ACOs will accomplish these aims b...